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OH Newspaper’s Sloppy Reporting on Drilling Workers/Problems

Local newspapers in drilling towns should know better, but sometimes reporters are either snookered, or they have an anti-drilling bent. We’re not sure which it is for The Marietta Times (Washington County, OH), but a recent article uses a so-called research report from the anti-drilling FracTracker that says when drilling comes to town so too does an increase in crime. And on that particular false premise the reporter hangs an entire article full of anecdotes and innuendo. Shame on The Marietta Times…
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Washington, PA Votes to Reject Marcellus Boarding House

You might think local politicians would be more than happy when someone buys a run down dump of a property with plans to turn it into nice housing. Such a plan would put it back on the tax roles, provide a shot of economic stimulus into the local economy, and help out the area’s strained rental property capacity. But if that housing will cater to Marcellus Shale workers and if you’re anti-drilling, as the politicians around the city of Washington, PA are, well then, you might just get your knickers in a twist (see Washington, PA Officials Try to Stop Marcellus Boarding House). Last month the owner of Phive Starr Properties had the temerity to tell Washington officials that their zoning rules have some big holes in them. Last night the board voted 3-2 to tell Phive Starr “Nah, we don’t have no holes, go away,” in so many words…
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Washington, PA Officials Try to Stop Marcellus Boarding House

In early February MDN told you about the rank hypocrisy of those in Washington, PA who are trying to block the rehabilitation of an old, unused and in-disrepair convent from being converted into housing for Marcellus Shale workers (see Marcellus Prejudice on Display at Washington, PA Church). The story has advanced since then. Seems that a second developer has picked up the property from the original buyer with the same thought. The new developer, Phive Starr Properties, is proving to be a tad more assertive.

Phive Star had the gall to tell Washington officials last week that there’s a big old hole in their zoning laws and that by provisions in their own laws the city can’t keep out a boarding house in the former convent property. Which has city officials “scrambling” (and butt covering) to see if there’s anyway they can still prevent it…
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WV City Turns Former Football Field into RV Park for Shale Workers

Here’s an idea: Rent RV spots on a now-abandoned sports field to temporary workers in the area who are there to work on pipelines and compressor stations, drilling and fracking–and use the money to someday convert that field into a neighborhood park once the temporary workers have done their job and moved on. McMechen (Marshall County), WV Mayor Mike Gracik is proposing just that. The old sports field that once hosted football games for Bishop Donahue High School and the former Union High School is already hosting a dozen RVs right now, with room to easily double that number.

But (you may ask), won’t that bring in, you know, transient workers who will be loud and noisy and spread STDs all over the place? According to Mayor Gracik, the RV campground is “one of the most quiet places around the city”…
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Stark County Still Sitting Pretty in the Utica, Even Without Drilling

Stark County, OH has gone through dramatic changes in a short period of time. Just a few years ago Utica Shale drilling near Stark County was hot with Chesapeake Energy leading the charge in places like neighboring Carroll County. Stark (and its largest city, Canton) were the beneficiaries of all that drilling in the northern part of the Utica play. Today? The “sweet spot” of Utica drilling has moved south, and yesterday’s hot areas like Stark and Carroll are today’s cold areas. Or are they?

Although drilling in Stark never really took off and although drilling in nearby Carroll is starting to decrease, that doesn’t mean Stark is not benefiting, in a big way, from Utica drilling. David Kaminski, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce’s director of energy and public affairs, said Stark County is still sitting pretty with respect to the Utica…
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Man Camps Spring Up in Marshall County, WV Near Drill Sites

Housing for workers is always an issue when a lot of drilling comes to town. Even if rig workers are not from out of state, more times than not, they are from another area in the state being drilled. That is, they’re still “out of towners” and they need a place to stay. Sometimes drillers will rent hotel rooms for workers. Sometimes RV parks fill up. And sometimes local apartment rentals go through the roof, creating a “crisis” for welfare slugs who need to rent a decent place to live while they don’t work (see New Study Claims Housing Crisis in NE PA from Gas Drilling).

Enter the man camp. Or as it’s called in Marshall County, WV, the “labor camp.” Labor camp sounds like something from North Korea or the old Putin-style Soviet Union. At any rate, labor camps are springing up in Marshall County, WV to handle some of the need for workers to have a place to stay while working on rigs that move from place to place…
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OH KOA Campground Says No Better Guests than Shale Workers

One of the refrains from anti-drillers who desperately seek ways to bash shale drilling is to say that when shale drilling comes to town, so too do higher rents (making it impossible for welfare slugs to get a decent apartment), and loud, carousing, hell-raising men who spread sexually transmitted diseases all over the place (see Shale Gas Drillers Spread STDs Says PA Democrat Legislator).

And then there’s the truth. A KOA campground in eastern Ohio is now open in the winter as well as summer because of the demand from the Utica Shale drilling industry. The campground is full to capacity with shale workers and reports that after workers have put in a 10-12 hour shift, they just want a place to rest and relax. The campground even holds a “family food night” for the men, serving them a free meal once a week as their token of appreciation. Once again, the truth is far different from the fictional lies spun by those who oppose drilling…
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Investment Firm Backs 3 Hotels, in Hunt for Restaurants in Utica

Energy investment firm Drill Capital is not only in the process of building one hotel in the Utica Shale with plans on the boards to build two more (all in eastern Ohio), the company also wants to lure a restaurant chain to the Utica too. You don’t put up investors’ money to build hotels and restaurant in rural locations unless you firmly believe the business will be there for years to come. That’s precisely what Drilling Capital’s young founder and managing partner, Farid Guindo, believes…
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Marcellus Prejudice on Display at Washington, PA Church

This is interesting, and sad, and maddening: A developer purchased a run-down, abandoned convent in downtown Washington, PA (for $11K) with plans to invest $300,000 to fix it up and put business offices in it. Or perhaps (this is the rumor) turn it into temporary housing for Marcellus Shale workers. That “M” word–that’s all it took. The pastor at the church across the street, Immaculate Conception, is against it. So too is the local town councilman. Their fear? Those disgusting, low-life “transient” workers will (don’t laugh) bring down the neighborhood. It won’t be safe to (don’t laugh) walk around at night. Because, you know, (whispering)…transients. Better to keep the old convent, a bombed-out looking eyesore, in downtown rather than have transients lurking about.

Now if the developer was wise he would have said something about housing “undocumented workers” (i.e. illegal aliens) at the convent. That would magically make the project A-OK. Here’s the interesting/sad/maddening story:
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OH Utica Shale Gives Rise to Crop of New Hotels

It seems as if new hotels are springing up all over the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio. The latest announcement: A New York City asset management firm says they’ll spend $5.2 million to build an 83-room hotel in…Carrollton, OH. Where? Exactly. Carrollton isn’t even a city–it’s a village, population 3,200, and it’s in Carroll County–in the middle of nowhere. But Carrollton also happens to be in the middle of one of the hot spots of the Utica Shale. And this hotel isn’t the only new hotel going up in Carrollton! A second hotel is already under construction in Carrollton–for $13.3 million (100 rooms).

Here’s the low-down on the new Carrollton hotel, and several other recently announced hotel projects in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale region:
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Drilling Impact: Rental Housing Soars Around Marietta/Parkersburg

One sector typically affected early in the drilling process is real estate. In some areas where drilling comes to town, sales of single family homes increase. So far there’s only been a slight uptick in home sales for the Marietta (Washington County), OH/Parkersburg (Wood County), WV area.

Apartment and house rentals, however, are a whole other matter. They’ve taken off like a rocket in the region. New hotel and motel construction is now under way as well…
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Marcellus Shale Causes Housing Prices in SW PA to Go Up

One of the oft-repeated lies by anti-drillers is that shale drilling causes property values to tank. “No one wants to live near active drill sites with truck traffic and water contamination,” is what they say. Never mind that once the drilling is done (within a few months) the trucks are gone–and there is no water contamination. But still, perception is reality in this Alice-in-Wonderland time in which we live.

However, the realty reality in southwestern Pennsylvania, a very active Marcellus Shale drilling area, puts to bed the “lowers property value” lie by those who want to stop drilling. According to a Realtor from the RealtyTrac Network, sales of homes in SW PA are way up (12.5% per year), and property values are increasing throughout the region–by 2-4% annually. In other words, it’s a red-hot sellers market in SW PA. Why? You guessed it: the Marcellus Shale…
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OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country

How many  times have we heard (and believed) that when drilling comes to town, higher housing prices, specifically rent, comes along too. A quick influx of people for a relatively fixed inventory of housing and voilà–high rents. In fact, MDN previously highlighted a study in November 2011 by a cabal of PA colleges that issued a 200-page report on how shale drilling was causing a “housing crisis” in northeastern PA (see New Study Claims Housing Crisis in NE PA from Gas Drilling).

But what’s this? Researchers at Ohio State University, understandably concerned that a housing shortage may be on the way in eastern Ohio, studied the PA data for 2007-2011, the first four years of PA’s drilling boom. Using government data (objective and unbiased, from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development), OSU researchers found, “…in Pennsylvania, counties experiencing the most shale-related development saw little change in fair market rents…housing vacancy rates and median home values.” A full copy of the OSU report debunking the “shale drilling creates a housing crisis” meme is embedded below.
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Washington County, PA Hotelier Adapts to Serve Drilling Industry

Anyone who lives in shale country can tell you one of the first signs that drilling either is, or is about to, impact an area’s economy, is full restaurants and busy hotels/motels. Shale field workers need a place to eat and a place to sleep. How these businesses–specifically hotels– respond is instructive for all businesses that would like to sell to the industry, i.e., plug in to the supply chain.

A recent story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does a good job of covering someone MDN has highlighted before: hotel and motel owner Tejas Gosai, in Washington County, PA (see these two MDN stories). From when Gosai’s hotels serve breakfast, to outdoor boot washers, to checking for bed bugs–the way Gosai has responded to and adapted “regular” hotels to serve the Marcellus drilling industry is instructive for other hotels, and for other businesses to follow as an example:
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The Positives, and Negatives, of Shale Gas Drilling

No one pretends there are not negatives when it comes to oil and gas drilling, least of all MDN. There are some drawbacks–but the negatives must be weighed against the positives. Local business and government leaders in Carroll County, OH (the county with the most Utica Shale wells drilled, so far), had a frank discussion of the both the good and the bad in a recent meeting with State Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta.

Highlights of the good and the bad when it comes to shale drilling:
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