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Alternative Energy | Erie County (NY) | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov. Cuomo Backs Billionaire Solar Guy Over Fracking
October 9, 2014October 9, 2014

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to direct $750 million of taxpayer’s hard-earned money to go to Elon Musk, founder of Paypal and Tesla Motors, a man whose net worth is $11.7 BILLION. Why? It’s Cuomo’s crony capitalism move to get Musk to build a manufacturing plant near Buffalo that will produce (don’t laugh) solar panels. Can anyone say “Solyndra”? Cuomo is hoping to buy ~~votes~~ Upstate NY jobs with his latest sleazy move. Meanwhile, if Cuomo would only open the state for hydraulic fracturing, he wouldn’t have to spend a dime of taxpayer money to create thousands of new jobs and lift the standard of living for everyone in Upstate. Instead, he prefers to steal from already-poor taxpayers and reward the super rich. Here’s more on the latest travesty unfolding in NY…
Read More “NY Gov. Cuomo Backs Billionaire Solar Guy Over Fracking”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

Failed Drug Tests Continue to Keep Ohioans from Utica Shale Jobs
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

Back in January 2013 MDN brought you the story of why more Ohioans (instead of “foreigners,” as Gov. John Kasich calls them) don’t work in the flourishing Utica Shale industry (see Why More Ohioans Don’t Work in Utica Shale Industry? Drugs). As the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program executive director Rhonda Reda puts it, it’s not an “unemployment” issue, it’s an “unemployable” issue. Apparently it’s not getting any better. If anything, the drug problem is getting worse…
Read More “Failed Drug Tests Continue to Keep Ohioans from Utica Shale Jobs”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wildlife

Snake Handlers in Demand in the Marcellus
September 24, 2014September 24, 2014

You may have thought snake handling was something done in tiny fringe churches tucked away in the backwoods of Appalachia. Think again. Snake handlers, or wranglers, are very much in demand in the Marcellus Shale to protect oil and gas workers on location, and to protect the snakes themselves–Timber rattlesnakes, a candidate for the threatened species list. Drillers and pipeline companies have to jump through many hoops to drill a well or lay pipeline. MANY hoops. One of those hoops is to ensure their work does not unduly harm a threatened or endangered species, plant or animal (called T&E in the business). When it comes to rattlesnakes, drillers call in the specialists to handle them…
Read More “Snake Handlers in Demand in the Marcellus”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

We seriously wonder if PBS reporterette Marie Cusick, who writes anti-drilling diatribes on the Pennsylvania StateImpact website, has ever, herself, visited a Marcellus well pad. How else could she write an article pejoratively titled “Gas drillers still ignoring law to include women and minorities”? MDN has visited pads a number of times–and the thing that stood out to us was the number of women suited up in overalls working in the dirtiest jobs on the drill site. But let’s not let reality destroy a good work of “journalistic” fiction…
Read More “Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research | Supply Chain

API Research/List of Shale Supply Chain Companies for PA/OH/WV
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

Important new research has just been released by the American Petroleum Institute on the role of supply chain businesses in oil and gas. In particular, not only how many such businesses exist–but who they are, by name. MDN has glanced through the report and has pulled the writeups for Pennyslvania, Ohio and West Virginia (all three below). The research shows that the oil & gas industry in PA is contributing $34.7 billion to the economy each year–a staggering number. The average salary for a PA worker is $48,785–but the average salary for o&g workers in PA is $78,898 per year. Similar numbers are found for both OH and WV as well…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

Fact: Unemployment Lower in States with Fracking
July 31, 2014July 31, 2014

Bernard Weinstein is a researcher and the associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business (in Texas). According to new research being touted by Weinstein, it’s a proven fact that states with active shale drilling–like Texas and Pennsylvania–saw faster economic turnarounds after the recession in 2008 when compared to those who have no drilling activity, like New York. In fact, the unemployment rate in Texas is the lowest of any large state–5.1%–while New York’s unemployment statewide remains stubbornly high–at 6.7%. The unemployment rate is even higher in Upstate New York, where Marcellus Shale is abundant and would be an economic miracle if allowed to proceed…
Read More “Fact: Unemployment Lower in States with Fracking”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MSC Releases Annual Workforce Survey: Marcellus Continues to Hum
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Another 2,000 new Marcellus jobs are being added this yes–in 2014–by Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) members according to the latest annual Marcellus Workforce Survey conducted by the MSC. The latest survey (full copy of results below) is increasingly hiring skilled workers in engineering and construction. High-paying skilled jobs accounted for 26.5% of all new hires last year in the Marcellus Shale. And there’s lots more where that came from…
Read More “MSC Releases Annual Workforce Survey: Marcellus Continues to Hum”
Butler County | Deep Well Services | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain

PA Snubbing Company Expands by 50 Jobs in Just 3 Months
July 22, 2014July 22, 2014

Another supply chain success story: Thanks to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, the only “snubbing” company located in Pennsylvania, Deep Well Services (DWS), has hired 50 new workers since May. By the end of this month they’ll have 128 employees on the payroll–almost all of them in PA, WV and OH. That’s more than 100 jobs added since 2012–thanks to shale drilling. Oh! What’s “snubbing” you ask?…
Read More “PA Snubbing Company Expands by 50 Jobs in Just 3 Months”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Supply Chain

Shale Gas Adding 150K New Supply Chain Jobs by 2020
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA), a trade association representing the companies and people that provide contractor services, equipment, materials and labor to shale oil and gas exploration and production, infrastructure, transportation and processing, says a new report shows that shale gas production through 2020 will create an additional 150,000 new supply chain jobs in the U.S. The EEIA also says if the U.S. government gets its act together and approves more LNG export facilities, that would create another 10-20,000 additional jobs…
Read More “Shale Gas Adding 150K New Supply Chain Jobs by 2020”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Makes $150K Grant to Union to Train Utica/Marcellus Welders
July 7, 2014July 7, 2014

More highly skilled (and highly paid) welders will be on the way soon in the Utica and Marcellus Shale thanks to a $150,000 training grant by the State of Ohio to the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 396. The grant, from the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, will train (or retrain) 40 union welders over the next one year. The money will put Ohioans back to work by working in the gas fields (no “foreigners” need apply). Here’s the official announcement:
Read More “OH Makes $150K Grant to Union to Train Utica/Marcellus Welders”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Dem Gov Candidate Tries to Outdo “Foreigner Hunter” Kasich
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

This is interesting. We didn’t even know there is a governor’s race in Ohio this year. The OH race is probably not newsworthy because the Democrat running against John Kasich doesn’t stand a prayer of a chance. Most polls we checked have Kasich trouncing his opponent–Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald–by at least 10 points. However, what’s interesting and noteworthy is that FitzGerald is trying to out-foreigner hunter the foreigner hunter himself, Gov. Kasich. You may recall MDN labeled Kasich “the foreigner hunter” back in 2012 after he started his jingoistic talk labeling out-of-state experts who work on some of Ohio’s drilling rigs and in the Ohio Utica Shale as “foreigners” (see OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers). Such talk is unbecoming a governor and unbecoming a supposed conservative–and we continue to point it out. Well it seems Democrat FitzGerald is even more extreme than Kasich…
Read More “OH Dem Gov Candidate Tries to Outdo “Foreigner Hunter” Kasich”
Allegany County | Economic Impact | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Maryland | Research | Statewide MD

Maryland Study: Marcellus Drilling Huge Benefit for Western MD
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

A new study recently released by the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University says if Maryland would only allow Marcellus Shale drilling, two western MD counties would reap huge benefits. The study, “Impact Analysis of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative” (full copy embedded below) says Allegany and Garrett counties would benefit from thousands of new jobs and hundreds of million dollars in newfound revenue…
Read More “Maryland Study: Marcellus Drilling Huge Benefit for Western MD”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs

New Marcellus Jobs Site Helps Job Seekers & Employers
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

MDN is happy to highlight a new Marcellus jobs website. The brand new MarcellusShaleJobs.com website recently launched and is looking for job listings by employers and corporate recruiters, and job seekers. According to their announcement, the new site brings job opportunities in all segments of the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian Basin–that is, the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. Post your resume, and search available jobs listed on the site. So far there’s only a single job listing–but it’s a doozy. The job is for a completions engineer in the Pittsburgh area–beginning salary $100K per year…
Read More “New Marcellus Jobs Site Helps Job Seekers & Employers”
Education | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

2 Dozen Drilling Techs from WV Program Now Make $70K/Year!
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Want a good job that pays big money but don’t want to “waste time” on an engineering degree? Listen up! West Virginia’s Community and Technical College Chancellor Jim Skidmore recently told state lawmakers that a program offered at two community colleges–Pierpont Community and Technical College in Fairmont and West Virginia Northern Community College in Wheeling–has just graduated two dozen students. Each student received a certificate or associates degree, and each student got a job making an average $70,000 per year to start. Has that got your attention?…
Read More “2 Dozen Drilling Techs from WV Program Now Make $70K/Year!”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation

150 Members of Congress Sign Anti-Dumping Letter to Commerce Sec.
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

MDN has chronicled the recent story of other countries “dumping” steel pipes in the U.S., selling them at below what it costs to manufacture them in order to corner the market and drive U.S. manufacturers out of business (see “Dumping” Leads to 177 Jobs Lost at PA Marcellus Pipeline Plant). In an effort to keep up the pressure, 150 members of Congress, from both major parties, have signed a letter by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) to the Dept. of Commerce urging them to make a full and complete investigation of the dumping practices by South Korea and other countries…
Read More “150 Members of Congress Sign Anti-Dumping Letter to Commerce Sec.”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Looking for a Shale Industry Job? API’s New Website Can Help
June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Want a job in one of the greatest (and fastest growing) industries in the world? We’re talking of the oil and gas industry, of course. IHS reports by 2030 the oil and gas industry will need an additional 1.3 million new workers. Yikes! Time to get busy plugging people into jobs, so the American Petroleum Institute has just launched a new website called Oil & Gas Workforce (www.oilgasworkforce.com) to do just that. The website’s aim is to help you find a job or get trained/certified for a job in the oil and gas (including shale drilling) industry…
Read More “Looking for a Shale Industry Job? API’s New Website Can Help”