IOGAWV Day at the Legislature Shows Industry’s Commitment to Safe and Responsible Development

January 26, 2012

Oil, gas industries visit Capitol

BY DAVID BEARD The Dominion Post 

More than 100 white T-shirts could be seen in the Capitol halls Wednesday morning.

Giant blue lettering on the front said "IOGA." Beneath that, in small letters, "Independent Oil and Gas Association" of West Virginia.

On the back, also in blue, "Support the industry that supports West Virginia -- Natural Gas!"

IOGA hosted "Oil and Natural Gas Day at the Legislature" to put a human face on the industry, as Government Relations Chairman Doug Malcolm phrased it.

The IOGA folks -- executives, workers and spouses -- circulated among industry booths set up on the west end of the main floor, visited legislators and attended the floor sessions.

They were there to show what good can come from the industry. The Dominion Post spoke to several to hear what they had to say.

Bob Litman owns Litman Excavating and Construction in New Martinsville. His father worked in the construction business, and Litman started his own in 1993.

Until two years ago, before the Marcellus boom hit the Ohio Valley, Litman had 18 employees, he said.

Now he has 120, and more than 100 trucks.

"We think it's great and hope it continues," he said. Members of his family who live out of state are returning to work here. A friend who lived in South Carolina and couldn't find work came back home to work for him.

"It's an opportunity for all of us, everybody in the valley," Litman said. "I think it's a good thing."

Rick Smith is northeast area sales manager for Houston-based Superior Well Services, which began in Indiana, Pa., and now spans the country.

He staffed Superior's booth near the Rotunda.

People have a wrong perception of the industry in West Virginia, he said. "They think everybody's from outside the state." But Superior has facilities in Jane Lew, Buckhannon, Kimball and Beckley. It employs more than 400 West Virginians and has plans to hire more than 100 more.

"They're all local West Virginians," Smith emphasized. "They're not from Oklahoma, Texas or anywhere else."

Phillip Heim lives in Charleston but travels the state, and across the nation, for natural gas producer Energy Corp. of America (ECA). "The industry has provided a great deal of benefit to me and my family personally."

For instance, the company allowed him to take time off when his dad was injured in a motorcycle wreck.

ECA and IOGA both provided his daughter with college scholarships so she was able to graduate from WVU debt-free.

What the industry hasn't done well, until just recently, is publicize what it does do well, he said.

"We do try to protect the environment. No matter what the environmentalists say, we are out there trying," Heim said. "Marcellus shale drilling is a wonderful program. I think we need to continue that."

Heim went to work for ECA 16 years ago. He had two years of college-level electronics training and worked as a network administrator.

About seven years ago, he was approached to take up electronic gas measuring and detection.

Now he travels to all of ECA's well sites, installing and setting up telemetry that automatically calls his office when a problem occurs.

His office then sends out help. They also set up and test emergency shutdown valves and track pipeline pressures, among other things.

Heim is proud that ECA is on the cutting edge of drilling and fracking technology. It recycles all its frack water and has a water system that transports water between frack jobs.

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(c)2012 The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)

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