Fracking involves forcing high-pressure fluid into underground rocks to open the prevailing cracks to obtain oil and gas. Based on 2019 recent survey, a ban on hydraulic fracturing might negatively affect Pennsylvania's economy. Researchers at Penn State University (PSU) found nearly zero traces of methane pollution in underground water reservoirs close to Pennsylvania's oil and natural gas wells.

The researchers used 20,751 samples from Keystone State and established probable traces of methane in just 17 samples, which correlates to 0.08 %. In other words, 99.92 % of the samples did not contain methane. It should be noted that methane in underground water is a natural occurrence and may not necessarily be associated with fracking, as previously thought.

The immense upsurge in local shale expansion, topped by fracking, has led to plummeting natural gas costs in Pennsylvania which have saved the state residents and industries approximately $30.5 billion from 2006 to 2016. 

A 2016 Chamber of Commerce research study approximated that the fracking activities produced $13 billion in state GDP and $7.2 billion in salaries and sustained approximately 117,000 direct and indirect employments in 2015. In addition, the oil and natural gas companies sustained approximately 322,000 employments in Pennsylvania in 2015, generating $23 billion in earnings and $44.5 billion in economic effect.

Due to several studies illustrating that fracking is reasonably secure and offers significant economic gains, policymakers and politicians should not ban fracking or suspend or limit drilling activities. 

This is not to imply that there are no threats related to fracking or other drilling activities. However, those threats are relatively minimal in contrast to the massive gains that come with fracking in Pennsylvania.