Jan 26, 2013 2 min read

I work on the Marcellus Shale. I’m a member of Laborers International Union of North America Local 1058 and a Washington County resident. I was proud to get a job helping to light the homes of my neighbors in Washington County as well as the rest of the country.

It’s no secret that weakness in the state economy is hurting many Pennsylvanians, and fewer and fewer jobs in the state pay enough to support a family.

I can’t imagine anyone in this area is ignorant of the environmental repercussions of gas extraction. We all feel an obligation to develop our natural resources in a responsible way, especially those of us working in the industry. I was complaining the other day that people don’t take pipeline workers’ commitment to community safety seriously, but then I realized it was because no workers were speaking up.

News reports about the amount of gas in this area and growth in the natural gas industries suggest I could spend the rest of my life working on the Shale and there would still be work for my children and grandchildren. The key word here is work. Drilling on the Shale is here to stay, and the Washington County community should celebrate that there will be generations worth of work right in our region.

Guy Benard

Midway