Posted on 04/21/2014 6:01:56 AM PDT by thackney
After early complaints that out-of-state firms got the most jobs, some local construction trade workers and union members in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia say they're now benefiting in a big way from the Marcellus and Utica shale oil and gas boom.
That vocal support from blue-collar workers complicates efforts by environmentalists to limit the drilling process known as fracking.
"The shale became a lifesaver and a lifeline for a lot of working families," said Dennis Martire, the mid-Atlantic regional manager for the Laborers' International Union, or LIUNA, which represents workers in numerous construction trades.
Martire said that as huge quantities of natural gas were extracted from the vast shale reserves over the last five years, union work on large pipeline jobs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia has increased significantly. In 2008, LIUNA members worked about 400,000 hours on such jobs; by 2012, that had risen to 5.7 million hours.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
I would ask why the GOP isn’t reaping a political benefit from these people, but then I saw they were union people. They will vote democrat even if it means a welfare check rather than a pay check. Because that’s how their pappy and grand daddy voted.
All I can say is “Duh!”
There has been a sea-change for some of the unions. Others not so much. They’re waiting for their political masters to tell them it’s ok to support fracking.
The reality is that it is safe if its done properly.
Democrat Party is fracturing.
It’s apparently made out of shale. Who knew??
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