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West Virginia Now Employs 10K People in Marcellus Shale Gas Industry, Wetzel & Marshall Counties Most Active in Gas Drilling

WV - New Marcellus WellsAn article in today’s West Virginia paper The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register attempts to denigrate Marcellus gas drilling in the state by focusing on some of the problems. One of those problems, according to the article, is that 13 illegal aliens (undocumented workers) that have been caught working for drilling contractors in the state “in the last few years.” But 13 illegals apprehended out of some 10,000 workers employed by the Marcellus gas drilling industry in the state is an infinitesimally small 1/10th of one percent. That is, it’s a non-story. If the statistics are to be believed that there are some  20 million illegals in the U.S., and the population of our country is around 300 million, that means an average 6 1/2 percent of the entire population are illegal aliens! Point is: the drilling industry does not seek to employ illegals—it happens, like any industry.

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