Southern Boy in Shock! (Reading, Penn: unemployed, high school, salaries)

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by akpls

Wow.....you're from OK and think PA is windy? I spent a lot of time at Fort Sill, OK and it seemed like the wind never stopped blowing.

Ditto that. When my dad was posted to Ft. Sill in the 1980's for 5 years, I lived in Lawton and I remember many fearsomely cold windy winters. I specifically remember one time the wind chill being -42F. Not as much snow, but plenty of ice and cold wind.

[Lawman_Kyle]

I've never seen windchills below zero in Oklahoma and I've been there my whole life....

Lastnight was the coldest air I've ever felt. -11 windchill. My friggin Dr. Pepper froze shortly after I opened it lol.

[PAhippo]

maybe that's how slushes were invented? The kind ya buy at fairs and such. -11 is too cold to be out!

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by Lawman_Kyle

Those are the folks around this area that really have been helped the most by this boom. It's definitely a trickle effect. Of course the rich get richer too. Your land owners get the most money as you stated.

But almost all businesses in the area benefit too once the pipeliners, roughnecks, and the rest that goes with natural gas exploration arrive. If I were a local, the only complaint I would have is the extra long lines at stores, gas stations, and eating joints that get slammed at breakfast time, payday, and Sundays .

Well there are up and downsides to all this as a local that lives in the epicenter of all this development in Tioga County.

The upside is that property owners have benefited if not with royalties but with bonus money for signing a lease(royalties for most have not yet arrived) and in turn that money has enabled people to upgrade their lives in various ways. Local businesses have benefited from that money as well. And of course business and real estate has received a boost in business from workers who spend some of their money here.

The downside is that there is now tons of noise and dirt at times thanks to rumbling sand and water trucks, lots of crime, violence and drug use, rents and real estate costs jumping out of reach of local wages, lots of sketchy pushy driving by gas company vehicles, etc.

So yeah lots of people have been helped out but on the other hand it's brought a lot of issues and attitudes. Most gas company workers are hard working people but reading the local crime blotter every day, I'd say there has been a sharp increase in crime, fights, rapes, theft, you name it. The local police confirm it's getting a bit over the top. The Wellsboro area recently had a murder that involved a gas worker with an outstanding felony warrant out of Texas. Things like that and a sand truck trying to run me off the road don't really make me pleased as a local.

As long as gas company workers treat locals with respect(including their property) they'll be welcomed as guests, but some don't and some locals are getting a bit frayed over it.

With experience living in oil and gas areas like Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma, I'd say from what I have seen in my lifetime is all this could dry up and blow away like a fart in the wind tomorrow. Prices drop, producers shut down and once prosperous towns and businesses can evaporate. Just food for thought on the long term planning for the local area.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by Lawman_Kyle

I've never seen windchills below zero in Oklahoma and I've been there my whole life....

Lastnight was the coldest air I've ever felt. -11 windchill. My friggin Dr. Pepper froze shortly after I opened it lol.

Well there were always many days in SW OK that the temp would be in the single digits during the day and there were always nights where it would be below zero. Add in a 30-40 mph wind and you can do the math.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

As long as gas company workers treat locals with respect(including their property) they'll be welcomed as guests, but some don't and some locals are getting a bit frayed over it.

I was meeting today with a "gas guy" and a landowner to try to resolve such an issue today. 15 degrees and 20 mph winds were no problem for me for 30 minutes on a well pad, with me wearing a windstopper fleece drawstring hat and mountain-quality (but purchased on steep closeout) puffy jacket. Might have started feeling it after 40 minutes though.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by Honest Bob

Hey - it's great that they can take the natural gas produced here and ship it by pipe line down to North Carolina or Tennessee and use it to fuel their factories and run their economy. But it does very little for the average Pennsylvanian who does not own more then a acre or two and no mineral rights....
There is very few people in Pennsylvania who is actually benefiting from this natural gas boom!

Agreed. Even more appalling is the fact that our legislature has been completely negligent on the issue of a severance tax. PA is now the ONLY gas-producing state that does not have any sort of a severance tax.

I understand this is completely unrelated to the point of the thread and perhaps I'm a bit on my soap box here, but it's nothing short of tragic that the natural gas industry is not being held accountable enough for its enormous impact on our state's environment.

I like to think I'm pragmatic and not alarmist, but it's hard to believe that the quantity and quality of our drinking water, our state forests and our infrastructure will not all take a huge turn for the worse if we keep granting natural gas leases unfettered -- especially in our fragile watersheds (I'm looking at you, Corbett).

Economic revitalization and jobs for people in depressed areas of the state is a wonderful thing, but it should absolutely not have to come at the expense of some of our most pristine natural resources. Once they're gone, they're gone for good. For example, has anyone stopped to think about how our timber will be affected by practices necessitated by natural gas drilling? http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry...more/index.htm

With all due respect Lawman_Kyle, I am not placing any blame on you personally, but you surely cannot expect PA residents to turn a blind eye to some glaring problems with natural gas drilling.

[Lawman_Kyle]

Duderino.....

With all due respect given back to you, have you ever been to a drilling pad? Or on location on a pipeline right of way? They are very very small. The tragic/major loss of natural resources is the exact opposite.....it's minimal. DEP ensures that the natural surroundings are protected, and if the contractor ( drilling company ) is out of compliance they receive MAJOR fines.

Believe me, I do see where residents can get frustrated with the tore up roads, the bad driving ( I am a former police officer, and find the locals are the aggressive drivers ), and the worry of environmental disasters. I guess it's not fair for me to speak for the entire industry, but I do speak for the drilling rigs, and the pipeliners that are here in the Washington, PA area...and saying that there has been no DEP violations. The contractors I work for/with go above and beyond to keep the land integrity in check, and repair all roads they use immediately after the well is complete.

I encourage anyone who has concerns to contact the drilling companies in your area that are causing you problems. I bet you'll find they'll be more than happy to talk to you and address your concerns.

On one last note, I agree that it is very odd PA doesn't tax these gas companies like other states do.....but remember that that is not their companies fault. It's your state government.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by Lawman_Kyle

On one last note, I agree that it is very odd PA doesn't tax these gas companies like other states do.....but remember that that is not their companies fault. It's your state government.

VERY good point that we who've been here a little longer should remember.

[Craziaskowboi]

But if Pennsylvania tried taxing the gas companies, Bill Steigerwald would crawl out from under his bridge and use such a tax as "proof" of how "oppressive" the business climate is in Pennsylvania.

(No, it's not as favorable as it is in Texas or Delaware, but it's much better than it is in California or New York, among other places.)