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| Ohio Shale Drilling Spurs Job Hopes in Rust Belt |
| 2011-11-28 |
| A rare sight in hard-luck Youngstown, a new industrial plant, has generated hope that a surge in oil and natural gas drilling across a multistate region might jump-start a revival in Rust Belt manufacturing. The $650 million V&M Star mill, located along a desolate stretch that once was a showcase for American industry, is to open by year's end and produce seamless steel pipes for tapping shale formations. It will mean 350 new jobs in Youngstown, a northeast Ohio city that is struggling with 11 percent unemployment. V&M Star's parent company Vallourec, based in Boulogne-Billancourt, La Belle France, hopes increased interest in shale formations will produce a ready-made market. Vast stores of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations have set off a rush to grab leases and secure permits to drill. Industry estimates show the Marcellus boom could offer robust job numbers for 50 years. Similar hopes are alive in Lorain, Ohio, where U.S. Steel will add 100 jobs with a $100 million upgrade of a plant that makes seamless pipe for the construction, oil-gas exploration and production industries. Erin DiPietro, a company spokeswoman in Pittsburgh, said the expansion will make the Lorain operation more competitive and help it tap into expanding shale developments. The mayors of both Ohio cities see a chance to revive manufacturing through shale drilling. "For every manufacturing job there are between five and seven ancillary jobs created within the community that support those manufacturing jobs," said Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko. His city has a 10.6 percent unemployment rate. Companies are trying to spin off more work from shale development, and every bit will be a plus, according to Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone. "I just know this: the money they will spend will help the economy," he said. Those benefiting from shale development include American Railcar Industries of St. Charles, Mo., with an order backlog that is the largest since 2008. The company, with operations across the U.S, was helped by demand for freight cars used in the shale industry. One of the biggest manufacturing projects on the shale developing horizon is the plan for a multibillion-dollar Shell Oil Co. petrochemical refinery. Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are competing for the plant, which would convert natural gas liquids to other chemicals that go into everything from plastics to tires to antifreeze. "What they're talking about at this stage is, you're looking at the next gold rush," said Martin Abraham, science-engineering dean at Youngstown State University. One study backed by the oil and gas industry predicted developing oil and gas reserves could create or support more than 200,000 jobs in the next four years just in Ohio, where Hess Corp. recently made a series of mineral-rights purchases worth $750 million. But the project is not without controversy. Susan Helper, a Case Western Reserve University professor who studies manufacturing issues, said such job projections are suspect, in part because the estimate of natural gas reserves may be inflated. She said the industry and politicians have a self-interest in rosy projections. "It's a way of saying to environmentalists and others that say slow down, 'Gee, you're preventing all this potential great job growth here'," she said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #18 "an artist with money from Soros or the Saudis?" Yes, WM. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-11-28 22:13 |
| #17 Rob Crawford yes but also farmland. Good farmland is being purchased at record prices. I know the Japanese were purchasing among other things cemeteries. Food production looks to be the ticket for investment. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-11-28 21:36 |
| #16 I will say the oil shale boom has sent the price of recreational property through the roof here in Ohio and in parts of Kentucky. Doubled, in some cases. Some people are being paid as much for mineral rights as they paid for their land originally. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2011-11-28 18:53 |
| #15 Voters are going to have to dump this current administration to get out of the dumper and for there to be any real (as opposed to sham green) energy- related jobs. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-11-28 16:13 |
| #14 Until after Obean would be reelected, then he'd come down on them. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-11-28 15:39 |
| #13 Probably another 100 or so indirect jobs created. A primary industry spins off another 5-10X jobs in the economy. |
| Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 2011-11-28 14:36 |
| #12 I posted two links related to this subject. The HufF and Puff and Ice age now. They didn't take so I guess it was considered spam. Dale, a great many more articles are submitted than the moderators publish. Rantburg focusses on the War on Terror, with a small admixture of other articles of interest. The articles you summarize are interesting, but not really appropriate for Rantburg, which is why they were not published. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-11-28 14:28 |
| #11 I posted two links related to this subject. The HufF and Puff and Ice age now. They didn't take so I guess it was considered spam. The November 7th quake was determined to be not related to fracking or oil wells. We are in a very active earthquake and volcanic period. Oklahoma city is on top of one shallow quake should we relocate it. The magnetic North Pole has been moving 40km/year towards Moscow. Titanic events are occurring 24/7 under our feet. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-11-28 12:30 |
| #10 Comeon bman, everybody knows the quake was caused by global warming. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-11-28 12:27 |
| #9 Cite, bman? And proof that it was "caused" by fracking? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2011-11-28 12:16 |
| #8 Meanwhile in Oklahoma another earthquake caused by fracking. |
| Posted by: bman 2011-11-28 10:31 |
| #7 Bobby Hello, and yes for your addition. A much larger seam is about 2000 feet down. Something like 8 feet thick. In the same areas. Technology I understand is not able just yet to tap this find. |
| Posted by: Dale 2011-11-28 09:30 |
| #6 In August, the U.S. Geological Survey said the Marcellus Shale region from New York to Ohio contains some 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas, far more than thought nearly a decade ago. Some geologists have put the figure even higher, but those estimates are controversial. The Utica formation covers much of eastern Ohio and crosses through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Permits allowing hydraulic fracturing in Ohio's portion of the Marcellus and the deeper Utica Shale have risen from one in 2006, to four in 2009, to at least 32 this year, state records show. Pennsylvania has nearly 3,500 Marcellus wells sunk, most since 2008, and more than 500 permits have been issued this year in West Virginia. How did all those permits get past the tree-huggers? Were they all focused on the BP spill? Maybe that was the plan! Environmentalists are critical of the process, which utilizes chemical-laced water and sand to blast deep into the ground and free the shale gas. Critics fear the process itself or the drilling liquid, which can contain carcinogens, could contaminate water supplies, either below ground, by spills, or in disposed wastewater. I suspect all the fracking occurs well below the drinking water table, certainly so for the deeper Utica formation. Mark Brownstein, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund, said it's up to regulators and drillers to make sure shale industry jobs are created while protecting the environment. That seems a particularly adult statement. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-11-28 07:53 |
| #5 Obama has already put a stop to drilling in Wayne National Forest in SE Ohio to placate the eco-wackos in his base. The Obama EPA is also closing coal fired electric plants in Ohio. |
| Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili 2011-11-28 07:29 |
| #4 an artist with money from Soros or the Saudis? |
| Posted by: Water Modem 2011-11-28 01:30 |
| #3 I'm sure some lawsuit artist can put a stop to all this nonsense. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-11-28 00:59 |
| #2 >It will mean 350 new jobs in Youngstown, a northeast Ohio city that is struggling with 11 percent unemployment. More than that! That's just the direct employment. Probably another 100 or so indirect jobs created. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-11-28 00:32 |
| #1 "It's jus' like th' good ol' days, Clyde. I wants me some uniom..." |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2011-11-28 00:05 |