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Businesses, union discuss shale boom
BOARDMAN
Contractors and union leaders gathered to discuss how they and the rest of the area can benefit from the quickly developing oil-and-gas boom in eastern and southeastern Ohio.
“We’re trying to find out who the players [investors] are and how we can benefit,” said Jason McClellan, project manager for Evets Oil and Gas Construction Services.
Evets, based in Girard, was one of numerous area companies that met Thursday with Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 396 and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, to gather information on how they can plug into the oncoming economic boom, which Johnson labeled a modern-day gold rush.
Contractors wanted to find out what they need to do to acquire contracts, and Local 396 representatives talked about the need to offer training specific to the oil-and-gas industry that would enable its members and others to cash in on the drilling.
Companies and Local 396 already are feeling the impact.
Local 396, which hosted the meeting billed as preparation for an Energy Networking Forum on Thursday at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center in Canfield, already has seen the effect of the burgeoning industry coming to this area.
A year ago, 160 of the union’s members were out of work. Today, all of its 460 members have jobs. Marty Loney, union organizer, has applied for grants to help finance the specialized training required by the gas-and-oil industry. He noted there are 144 applicants for its five-year apprenticeship program.
McClellan said Evets, which has 40 years’ experience in the industry, has added 13 engineers, estimators and draftsmen this year to assist in bidding on projects. And just on Thursday, McClellan said he received invitations from three “players” to bid on projects.
The source of the economic increase is gas and oil contained in Utica and Marcellus shales in eastern and southeastern Ohio.
“It’s a very big deal that will provide many years of work extracting, processing and distributing the gas; and it will take a lot of equipment and manpower,” said Paul K. Morrison, general manager of special projects for McCarl’s, an industrial construction, maintenance and fabrication company based in Beaver Falls, Pa. Like Evets, McCarl’s has worked in the gas-and-oil industry for many years.
Representatives of other companies, including Western Reserve Mechanical in Niles and Prout Boiler, Heating and Welding in Youngstown, have general mechanical contracting and welding skills but not the specific expertise needed for the gas-and-oil industry.
The question: Is there sufficient trained manpower available for a business that comes and grows very quickly? Morrison said.
A major concern here is how the area contractors and unionized tradesmen, such as members of Local 396, can land the contracts and jobs available bidding against the nonunion companies that they agree will soon arrive from other boom sites.
The strategy to keep the contracts and jobs local has several prongs.
Unions plan to promote their work-safety records and the quality of their work. They had the support of the contractors in attendance.
“We pride ourselves on being a union contractor. We have worked well with Local 396 on many projects,” said William Cornell, general manager of industrial relations for McCarl’s.
Johnson, who said the $900 million that Chesapeake Energy said it would spend in Columbiana County to build a natural- gas gathering and compression plant, is the first big tangible piece of the real evidence of the magnitude of the opportunity.
“My role is to make the connections to ensure that the people of Ohio who want jobs can get them,” Johnson said.
He said efforts are being made to connect Ohio educational institutions with the gas companies so the educators can understand what skills are needed and adjust their curriculums accordingly.
Also, Johnson said a major part of his job is to keep federal regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency at bay so they don’t strangle the opportunity.
“I’m about doing this safely and protecting the environment,” but he said he believes the Ohio EPA and Department of Natural Resources have demonstrated they can do the job.
Johnson predicted the United States could harvest its oil, gas and coal, use it in an environmentally safe way and become energy- independent in a decade.
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface,” he said.