Page 24n Thursday, May 3, 2012


NATION & WORLD


BAKKEN BREAKOUT WEEKLY


Gas drilling spurs jobs in wildlife, housing


By MARY ESCH Associated Press


BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — Before


work begins on a gas well or pipeline in northern Pennsylvania, Merlin Benner or one of his colleagues walks the land looking for timber rattlesnakes, a pro- tected species. “When we find them, we’re required


to move them far enough away to get them out of danger and out of sight of the workers,” Benner said. “State regula- tions are in place to protect the snakes, but the clients are more concerned about the safety issue.” Job creation is one of the main ar-


guments in favor of natural gas drill- ing using the controversial technology of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Industry opponents, who believe health and environmental risks outweigh economic gains, say job num- bers are inflated and the economic im- pact will be a boom-to-bust one. But jobs are being created, not only


in the gas industry and the hotels and restaurants that cater to its rig workers, but also in numerous companies that are filling industry-related niches. Benner, whose company is Wildlife


Specialists of Wellsboro, Pa., is among business owners who have started or ex- panded because of the shale gas boom that began about four years ago in Penn- sylvania. Drilling is expected to spread into New York if the state Department of Environmental Conservation completes its four-year review and approves it, pos- sibly this summer. Benner worked for the Pennsylvania


Department of Conservation and Natu- ral Resources for 15 years as a wildlife biologist before retiring early in 2007 to start his company. “We went from one person five years


ago to about 15 full-time now and 15 to 20 seasonal workers in the summers,” he said. President Obama said in his State of


the Union address in January that natu- ral gas drilling could create 600,000 jobs nationally. Benner’s company also delineates


wetlands, looks for endangered Indiana bats, and conducts habitat surveys. The firm illustrates the diversity of businesses that are directly involved with natural gas well and pipeline projects in the Marcel- lus Shale, a deep, gas-rich rock formation underlying southern New York, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio and West Virginia. John Payne, owner of Payne’s Cranes in Bainbridge, said his company had


been busy erecting modular homes until the economy tanked in 2008. “We were doing about 60 homes a year and that dropped to maybe a dozen,” Payne said. “The gas development came along at just the right time for us. It’s the best oppor- tunity I’ve had in 42 years, no exaggera- tion.” Payne’s Cranes unloads gas compres-


sors and erects the buildings that house them, as well as erecting, disassembling and transporting drilling rigs. “We’ve modernized considerably since we start- ed working in Pennsylvania three years ago,” Payne said. Payne has added four employees, in-


creasing his full-time staff to 18, and four cranes, going from eight to 12. Chris Musser and two friends started


Crosshair Consultants of Vestal after they graduated from college in 2009. “We saw an opportunity and jumped


on it,” Musser said. “We’ve gone from four to 10 employees plus two part-time, and we just signed a lease for a larger of- fice space.” Crosshair contracts with gas companies to oversee truck fleets, ensur- ing that vehicles are properly maintained and drivers comply with safety regula- tions. Dave Nixon, who opened a Pennsyl-


vania branch of California-based Rain for Rent two years ago, said he has 130 employees and is looking to hire 20 to 30 more. They rent water storage tanks, pipes, and pumps and their employees install, operate and remove the equip- ment. The company’s work has changed


along with stricter regulations for hy- draulic fracturing, or fracking, which frees gas from shale by injecting a well with millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to crack sur- rounding rock. “Most of the water is being recycled


now,” Nixon said. “When we started out in 2010, we weren’t filtering at all.” While Wildlife Specialists does a lot of


work for the gas industry as well as for wind farms and other developers, Barry Butler, a wetland specialist for the com- pany, said he has mixed feelings about drilling. “Philosophically, I think most of the


people in our office would like to see the environment not change,” Butler said. “But that’s not going to happen, even without the gas industry here. So we want to sit down and figure out how we can best develop the resource our coun- try needs while designing and managing the projects so they have the least envi- ronmental impact possible.”


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