Visible Manifestations of the New Gas Economy

[rugerjitsu]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

On US 220 last month I saw a billboard for a local auto shop: "WE FIX WHITE TRUCKS (And Other Colors, Too)" - reference to the noticeable propensity for the gas people to be driving white trucks.

An upper floor in Wellsboro now has an engineering firm, http://www.gtstech.com/about/locations.htm - the conference I was at last spring included a presentation saying that a study had estimated that each active drill rig created jobs for 3 engineers so it's nice to see at least some of these jobs in the local area. (The same study said each rig also created jobs for 4 lawyers. )

fyi...

the reason you see a bunch of white pick-ups being driven by "gas people", is that it's been studied that white vehicles have a slightly higher resale value. which is why you see most fleet business vehicles are white.

[ki0eh]

We've bought 2 new white vehicles over the years that have sat as model year leftovers. Can't say about resale since we drove both until the engines seized at well over 100k.

One explanation I heard was that since most of them come from Texas the white is more reflective and hence vehicles are cooler when they get back in them. Don't know if that's speculation or a real reason.

[North Beach Person]

Ford usually makes a lot of white trucks because that color is easy to put company logos on. If you look at them, and Chevy, they both have a "fleet" type model, rubber instead of carpet, vinyl seats, bare bones interior, which almost always gets white paint. That's what I have.

[PeeAye Native]

When I read the article below I thought of this thread.

Oil Boomtowns See Rise In Drunken Driving And Bar Fights, Threatening To Overwhelm Law Enforcement

Some great quotes:

_____ ____, 27, of Montrose, Pa., said she knows of at least three marriages that ended when local women abandoned their husbands for gas-field workers.
It's "because of these Southern gentlemen, with their Southern accents, and the girls move in with these guys to take care of them," she said. "You get to spend their money, and they're gone two weeks at a time."

"We definitely do drink a lot. I ain't going to lie," said Jordon Bourque, a 23-year-old pipe inspector from Lafayette, La., who was drinking beer at a bar in the Williamsport, Pa., area one recent night.

But he said that many in the industry obey the law and that authorities in Pennsylvania have less tolerance for troublemakers than police in small-town Texas, where rig workers are used to raising hell and getting a pass from law enforcement.

Back in Pennsylvania, a Bradford County commissioner, Doug McLinko, said the crime spike doesn't change his mind about the importance of the drilling boom to the local economy. Other states, he said, would "cut an arm off" to have such a surge.

What I learned:
- New term "abandon your husband",
- Small town PA police are stricter than small town Texas police.
- Local pols are aware this brings jobs into the area.
- Towanda is considered a boomtown. That's something you would not have heard said since two or three generations (150 years) ago.

[wanneroo]

Well another gas worker from Texas just killed another local woman the other morning while drunk driving at 8 AM!

I don't mind the gas business per se, but some of these workers I've about had enough of.

[PeeAye Native]

Originally Posted by wanneroo

Well another gas worker from Texas just killed another local woman the other morning while drunk driving at 8 AM!

I don't mind the gas business per se, but some of these workers I've about had enough of.

You're no doubt referring to this.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by PeeAye Native

You're no doubt referring to this.

I am.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Pipelines are going in everywhere, two different contractors have put up two different numbering systems on roads around Mansfield, in addition to the official township road name signs they all have too.

More observations regarding these: Greetings from Pipeline Road 7

[ki0eh]

A new tourist attraction now, the "Marcellus Borealis"?
Photographer compares Marcellus landscape, opinion - The Wellsboro Gazette : The Marketplace

[ki0eh]

Seen at a rural road junction in Tioga County today:

An open top steel drum, hand lettered on one side "MCDONALDS TRASH" and on the other side "BOTELLAS PLASTICOS"