The NYT implies that it is when it tells readers that:

"Many of those involved [in the fracking debate] said it was unlikely that Governor Cuomo would turn his back on the gas industry and ban drilling in the rich Marcellus and Utica shale deposits covering much of the economically depressed southern and western reaches of the state."

If the industry creates relatively few jobs, most of which go to skilled workers from outside of the state, and then leaves the area permanently scarred, it is not clear that fracking is beneficial to economically depressed areas.
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_4_0": ["kInfo=tas%3Acenter%20for%20economic%20%2Cidx%3A1-2-2\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"in\">in</a> <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/user/cepr\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"yt\">youtube</a> <a href=\"https://plus.google.com/105965366836516988106/posts\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"gp\">google plus</a> <a href=\"http://feeds.feedburner.com/cepr\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"blog\">blog</a></div></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"custom\">\n<div class=\"container copyright\">\n<div class=\"row-fluid clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\"><a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\" rel=\"license\"> <img src=\"https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" width=\"88\" height=\"31\"/> </a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"container by\">\n<div class=\"row-fluid clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\">\n<p>This work is licensed under a <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\" rel=\"license\"> Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License </a></p>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div></div>\n</footer>\n \n \n<script src=\"/templates/cepr/js/bootstrap.min.js\"></script>\n<script", "blank\" class=\"blog\">blog</a></div></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"custom\">\n<div class=\"container copyright\">\n<div class=\"row-fluid clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\"><a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\" rel=\"license\"> <img src=\"https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" width=\"88\" height=\"31\"/> </a></div>\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"container by\">\n<div class=\"row-fluid clearfix\">\n<div class=\"col-md-12\">\n<p>This work is licensed under a <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/\" rel=\"license\"> Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License </a></p>\n</div>\n</div>\n</div></div>\n</footer>\n \n \n<script src=\"/templates/cepr/js/bootstrap.min.js\"></script>\n<script src=\"/templates/cepr/js/ie10-viewport-bug-workaround.js\"></script>\n<script src=\"/templates/cepr/js/scripts.js\"></script>\n \n<script type=\"text/javascript\">\n\t\t\t\t\t//<![CDATA[\n\t\t\t\t\tvar disqus_shortname = 'ceprnet';\n\t\t\t\t\tvar disqus_config = function(){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tthis.language = '';\n\t\t\t\t\t};\n\t\t\t\t\t(function () {\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar s = document.c"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["e involved [in the fracking debate] said it was unlikely that Governor Cuomo would turn his back on the gas industry and ban drilling in the rich Marcellus and Utica shale deposits covering much of the economically depressed southern and western reaches of the state.\"\n\nIf the industry creates relatively few jobs, most of which go to skilled workers from outside of the state, and then leaves the area permanently scarred, it is not clear that fracking is beneficial to economically depressed areas."]}