Business Journal Daily: Community Colleges Prepare for Shale Jobs
Monday, August 23, 2010
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- Eastern Gateway Community College is among a consortium of community colleges in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia that has launched a program to train prospective employees for opportunities related to the Marcellus Shale energy boom.
The Marcellus ShaleNET is a comprehensive recruitment, training, placement and retention program for jobs in the Marcellus Shale gas industry. The program was made possible through a $4.96 million community-based job-training grant from the U. S. Department of Labor.
Westmoreland County Community College and the Pennsylvania College of Technology are the two hubs that will coordinate the training of interested and qualified workers across 69 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The hubs will serve as modified one-stop centers to identify and convene relevant and interested training partners in the Marcellus Shale footprint and also develop industry-approved criteria for training and certification programs. These centers will use a comprehensive system to match prospective employees with employers.
"The greater Pittsburgh region holds a key for releasing America from foreign oil dependence with the Marcellus Shale natural gas play. In addition to being one of the cleaner energy sources that's important to a balanced, environmentally sound energy portfolio, this natural gas resource is equally important as a job creator in our region," said U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-18 Pa., a member of the bipartisan Congressional Natural Gas Caucus.
The Marcellus Shale is a vast repository of natural gas buried deep beneath Pennsylvania, western New York and West Virginia. New technology enables energy companies to use horizontal drilling to tap into natural gas trapped within the shale rock.
The drilling of a single well requires 400 people working in nearly 150 occupations.However, most workers employed on gas rigs in the Marcellus shale are from other regions where the work force is more experienced in the industry. ShaleNET acts as a training vehicle to ensure more local workers get the training they need to land these jobs.
"We believe that the industry will be hiring thousands of individuals in the foreseeable future to support responsible natural gas extraction. At EQT, we unquestionably want to fill those jobs with individuals who call Appalachia home," said David Porges, president and CEO of EQT Corp.
"Through the Marcellus ShaleNET program, the training and public workforce systems are going to help develop a large pool of residents uniformly trained to industry standards, but also more attuned to our region's insistence that these activities are conducted in a manner consistent with our community's strict environmental and safety standards," Porges said.
The initial focus will be on linking industry, workforce investment boards, community college and other training providers to recruit, train and place low-income and dislocated workers, as well as veterans, in six high-demand occupations: derrick, rotary drill, and service unit operators; roustabouts; welding and brazing operators; and truck drivers.
For more information about Marcellus ShaleNET, contact Tracee Joltes, assistant director of workforce outreach at Eastern Gateway, at 800-68-COLLEGE, ext. 311.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio
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