Did you miss the public portion of the YOUNG expo? Click on the video player at the bottom of this page to hear full presentations by the morning speakers at the conference.The existence of natural gas under the Earth is about to become a booming business across Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, it was standing room only as hundreds crowded the Covelli Centre for the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber's Youngstown Ohio Utica and Natural Gas conference, or YOUNG.
"It's one of the biggest opportunities we'll see probably in a century," said Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber.
Leaders expect the Utica and Marcellus shale to revitalize area industry and the economy. Hundreds showed up at the conference to learn and network.
"If you look at the next 20 to 30 years, they're talking tens of billions of dollars," Humphries said.
The natural gas drilling industry is expected to create 200,000 jobs, which in many cases are high-paying jobs. Also on Wednesday, VAM USA, an affiliate of V & M Star, announced it is building a $57 million finishing plant on land adjacent to V & M's expansion and will hire 100 people.
Jason Hockran of H & H Enterprises out of Ashtabula County is one of the 60-plus businesses that were showing essential services and products at Wednesday's conference. H & H specializes in rock drilling and offers installation services of underground pipelines that transport gas.
"We're here to be a part of what will hopefully be a renewed industry in this area," Hockran said. "There's a lot of promise and a lot of opportunity here. I don't think it will be fully realized here for the next six months or couple of years."
But Hockran said now is the time to rub elbows. Morning sessions open to the public included talks on workforce development, the facts on fracking and legal insight for property owners.
And for this first-of-its-kind convention, Regional Chamber officials said they too were even surprised by the turnout. Some 1,300 people walked through the doors of the Covelli Centre and some 800 were expected to stay for the afternoon session.
Earlier in the day, Sam Miller, vice president of Trumbull Industries, showed one product he's pushing: Piping that can carry water to a fracking site, which would be an alternative to trucking in water.
"This is CertainTeed Yelomine piping. It's very easy to assemble. It's "o" ring sealed, so it's not going to leak," Miller said.
Hubbard business owner Gary Koncar of RTW Industrial Contracting, LLC didn't have a booth, but he too came to network. He compared what's about to happen to America's gold rush.
"Very interested in picking up a little bit of work. Just a sliver of it would be great. We're a small business that's always looking for new customers," Koncar said.
One of the first items of business during the day-long expo was the announcement of a new institute at Youngstown State University to train students for jobs expected to flourish due to the Utica shale drilling industry.
Speakers during the morning session included:
- Trina Rauscher Cooper, Human Resource Director at V & M Star. Topic: V&M Staffing Update: A Discussion of Job Search Resources, Skill Set Requirements and Employment Opportunities.
- Michelle Ball, Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. Topic: Job Opportunities in the Shale Industry and How the Department of Jobs and Family Services is Linking Job Seekers to Openings.
- Dr. Jeffrey Dick, Chair of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Youngstown State University. Topic: Fracking: Fact vs. Fiction.
- Atty. Eric Johnson, Johnson & Johnson. Topic: Legally Speaking, What Do Property Owners Need To Know?
To see the presentations by the morning speakers, click on the video players below.
The afternoon session targeted local and national companies that wanted to learn more about the supply chain for the oil and natural gas industry and hear about Ohio’s receptiveness to the investment and job creation activities associated with shale gas. Speakers included:
- Joel Mastervich, President & COO, V&M Star, Topic: V&M Star’s Expansion: Its Status & More.
- Thomas E. Stewart, Executive Vice President, Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA). Topic: Ohio’s Oil and Gas Industry, Its Potential Shale Play Opportunities and the OOGA.
- David Mustine, General Manager for Energy, Jobs Ohio. Topic: Ohio’s Open-For-Business Approach to the Oil and Natural Gas Industry.
- Daniel Rice, III, Managing General Partner, Rice Energy; Managing Director, Blackrock Capital Global Resources Team. Topic: Shale Plays and Their Impact on Financial Markets.
For more facts and news about shale drilling, click the Shale News tab above.
