Boom Town USA

• FairwoodKing

  On October 18, ABC News did a report on Steubenville. The link is http://abcnews.go.com/US/boom-town-ohio-town-sees-thousands-jobs/story?id=14761821
  
  According to this report, Steubenville has shown the second most increase in employment of any city in the US during the past year. It is all because of shale deposits that will soon be mined.
  
  If Steubenville's population suddenly rises, how will this affect Big Red football? Will we be put into Div. I? And will the stadium be big enough to hold the crowds? How will this affect other sports?
  
  This boom will also affect the other towns in the area. I wonder what changes will take place.
  
  ABC predicted that there will be 200,000 new jobs produced by this movement and that by spring every adult in Steubenville will be well employed. I hope this is true.
• Thinthickbigred

  It is happening .
• password

  

  WTOV9 investigated the story and found no truth to it, unemployment is not falling but rising and the jobs that may be created will be temporary for maybe a couple of years.
• BigYtownRed

  Story is not true @ this point. If it is true I would hope that the mall would have more than 15 stores open. :laugh:
  
  I drive 150 miles a day (roundtrip) to Ytown for work everyday, if this industry does take off & pays a decent wage I will stay in the area if not I will move back to the Ytown area.
• ManO'War

  

  I see a lot of drilling activity in Pittsburgh...I have seen people from all over the southwest US coming here for work.
  
  Most of it is happening in the SW Pa. and northern WV area right now.
  
  But my relatives have land outside of Steubenville and have already made money by leasing their land for drilling.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  I do a lot of work in Harrison and Guernsey Counties which share that same vein of shale just to the west. I have heard rumors which supposidly are true of people being offered 3-4 thousand dollars per acre for mineral rights, plus royalties once the well begin to produce. I have heard estimates that if successful, this modern day oil/gas boom will put 2.2 billion dollars into the local economy over the next few years.
  
  At this point those numbers are pure speculation. The first of three test wells is set to being within the next month.
  
  I hope it all goes as hoped.
• GRAYWOLF

  

  They are talking over a trillion cubic feet of gases in Jefferson county alone. You can thank EPA and Obama for the no go. Horizontal drilling and new fracking techniques has made it possible. It's actually like putting a hot alka-seltzer down a hole that goes down over 2 miles. It takes a lot of ground water or creek water to get it done. EPA is dead set against it because of the water tables. Wells in other areas has shown real promise. They are talking 1500 lbs per square inch on the well heads. You run a home on about 8 oz. so you can see the amounts are great. The 3-4 thousand dollars per acre for mineral rights is true but those numbers should be 5000 per acre. The drilling companies are attempting to ripe the farmer/landowner off. This is why you don't hear about it. All roads on this lead to Chesapeake Energy Corporation and Range Resources Corporation. Check these companies out on the web. The gas and oil is there, question is will the government let the companies get it. Also natural gas prices are very low and these companies don't want it to go any lower (over supply). If you push boom pickens approach on natural gas trucks and natural gas power plants these wells would be drilled.
  
  
  one other thing the coal industry is fighting this thing tooth and nail because coal is king and they spend millions on the politicians that can prevent it. Just like the casino industry in PA and West Virgina do to prevent legal gambling in OHIO. You guys really should get involved and aware of these things.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  I meant to include how the fracturing debate might stop this thing in it's tracks. Where I live it is pretty common to have Rose Run wells which were fractured in the 80's and early 90's, there have been no reported cases of the underground water supply being damaged by fracturing those Wells.
• Mr. 300

  

  I too work in the heart of this boom in Guernsey and surrounding counties. Co-worker just signed for 6200 p/acre and 20% royalties. Murray Energy is building a new office building just outside St C and combining multiple office into a corporate head quarters. A new platform is in the process outside of St C too.
  
  If this hits, Appalachia here in south eastern Ohio will get a huge pickup. People will have money to spend and millions will be pumped into the economy. I'm all for that in my business!!
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Mr. 300;951948 wrote:I too work in the heart of this boom in Guernsey and surrounding counties. Co-worker just signed for 6200 p/acre and 20% royalties. Murray Energy is building a new office building just outside St C and combining multiple office into a corporate head quarters. A new platform is in the process outside of St C too.
  
  If this hits, Appalachia here in south eastern Ohio will get a huge pickup. People will have money to spend and millions will be pumped into the economy. I'm all for that in my business!!

  If it hits, you and I will be passing each other in people's driveways.
• GRAYWOLF

  

  The other problem that is not helping is the pipeline systems to get the gas to market. Groups are fighting the pipeline out fits on Right a ways. Also the state wants a bigger piece of the action and want paid off before anything is produced. It's all about who is making the money. The states and federal government have sucked the life out of Appalachia for years and want to continue. The big oil companies will make money and the states and fed's. No one else. The big oil companies are the only ones that have the cash to pay off the right people. The small companies will get left out. The workers you see are all from out of state. They build the infrastructure and then go home to Texas, Alabama, and other southern states and take them big pay checks with them. You can thank the unions for that.
• Mr. 300

  

  THE4RINGZ;951953 wrote:If it hits, you and I will be passing each other in people's driveways.

  Nah, I'll have a signed contract and deposit in hand as I pull out while you're pulling in.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Mr. 300;952238 wrote:Nah, I'll have a signed contract and deposit in hand as I pull out while you're pulling in.

  Which I will have the customer void and stop payment on the check.
• ManO'War

  

  GRAYWOLF;951968 wrote:The other problem that is not helping is the pipeline systems to get the gas to market. Groups are fighting the pipeline out fits on Right a ways. Also the state wants a bigger piece of the action and want paid off before anything is produced. It's all about who is making the money. The states and federal government have sucked the life out of Appalachia for years and want to continue. The big oil companies will make money and the states and fed's. No one else. The big oil companies are the only ones that have the cash to pay off the right people. The small companies will get left out. The workers you see are all from out of state. They build the infrastructure and then go home to Texas, Alabama, and other southern states and take them big pay checks with them. You can thank the unions for that.

  I agree. The ones that are going to mess everything up is the government. Instead of saying "hey, great, lets get out of the way so the region can proper and bring needed energy to market", they will try to stand in the way of any progress...with the environmental whackos leading the way.
• QuakerOats

  ManO'War;952264 wrote:I agree. The ones that are going to mess everything up is the government. Instead of saying "hey, great, lets get out of the way so the region can proper and bring needed energy to market", they will try to stand in the way of any progress...with the environmental whackos leading the way.

  Bingo.
• Falcons53

  Most of the employees that will come in will be immigrants willing to work for low wages. You will get 5 families living in one house. I am not talking just from Mexico either. This could be very good, but odds are it will get screwed up. Someone will get rich, but it won't be the current area residents or nearby unemployed.
• goldenwarrior

  Problem is the enviroweenies are probably not from the area, so they are ignorant to the fact that most of Jefferson County was strip mined years ago and If the water table was ever going to be destroyed the damage would already have been done. Just like when they say the air is dirty...they obviously never visited the valley in the 60's and 70's. My point...enviroweenies stay away and let us do what we wish with our own property!
• ManO'War

  

  Falcons53;952522 wrote:Most of the employees that will come in will be immigrants willing to work for low wages. You will get 5 families living in one house. I am not talking just from Mexico either. This could be very good, but odds are it will get screwed up. Someone will get rich, but it won't be the current area residents or nearby unemployed.

  I cash the checks of the workers that are here already....most range from $1500 to $2000 biweekly, and one guy, who is a welder, brings in $15,000 (after taxes) biweekly. Hardly "low wages".
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Even if the workers are not residents of the area, the money generated that stays in the local economy is beneficial.
• Falcons53

  Manowar,
  
  It is early and you are talking the skilled. Just wait if it takes off. The highh wages will be to the few.
  
  Ringz,
  
  If the money stays. Like what I have seen in other cities, it goes back to the homeland. I can tell you the tricks as well. Eventually they will make money and still get free govt checks. It is amazing...
• ManO'War

  

  Well, we don't have much labor around here with experience in the drilling industry, so until the locals get up to speed, then they will have to hire from out of state.
  
  But there are a lot of other industries that are associated with the actual drilling, like trucking, general labor, ect... that are local guys.
• tcountysports

  From the New Philadelphia area and I have been working in PA and WV on the rigs for almost 2 years. The majority of the guys on the rig are from PA, OH and WV. Except usually the driller , toolpusher and company man. The problem is most guys from the northeast are not use to the hours/schedule. You are working usually 14 on 14 off or 28 on and 14 off. The 28 on and 14 off sucks if you have a wife and kids. If your lucky you get on a rig close to home but you have to keep in mind these rigs move constantly unless your on a pad where you are drilling 6 wells. The service companies typically work similar hours such as halliburton, schlumberger, weatherford etc... There are so many other service companies i could sit here for hours typing. So basically if you want a job apply and bug the heck out of them. That is how I got on. The money you make is absolutely insane. Ohio is about to be bigger than PA and WV with the Utica Shale. If you want a job there are plenty of them already.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  I guess I meant the money that stays is the money derived from mineral rights, and royalties, not so much the money earned by the laborers.
• Thinthickbigred

  Its going to take a few years but the support jobs that will come will tell the real story god willing