NORWICH – Jobs for New York, possibly 55,000 of them, could be expected after the state wraps up its environmental safety policy for drilling Marcellus gas and well development reaches maximum levels.

The welcomed economic news came late Wednesday with the release of new mitigation measures to counter the potential environmental impacts from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s socio-economic analysis found that when the well construction rate is at its maximum level, total direct employment could reach about 6,200 full-time equivalent workers under a low-development scenario and about 25,000 under the average-development scenario.

The figures correspond to the annual construction of 413 horizontal and vertical wells under the low- development scenario and 1,652 horizontal and vertical wells under the average-development scenario.

These jobs are estimated to bring $419.6 million to $1.7 billion in earnings for the workers.