skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Unions: West Virginians Better Qualified For Some Marcellus Jobs

play audio
Play

Tuesday, August 31, 2010   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Many of the estimated $2 billion worth of natural gas pipelines and compressor stations now or soon-to-be under construction in West Virginia because of the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom are being built by out-of-state contractors. The industry has argued that some out-of-state workers are better qualified. But Joe Bowen, organizer with the West Virginia Laborers District Council cites the case of a six-mile pipeline project for Chesapeake Energy. He says the work wasn't getting done, so Chesapeake called a local company with local workers.

"They ended up giving them like three miles of this work. Well, now as we speak, I believe the local contractor has finished up with his part and Holloman (a Texas-based pipeline construction firm) is still working on their three miles."

Bowen says flatland companies sometimes don't realize how hard it is to build pipelines in West Virginia, but local people have been doing it for years.

According to Bowen, West Virginia's mountains are a serious issue for pipeline construction.

"You know, it's different terrain than what's in Texas or Oklahoma. You get all these mountains, and you have a lot of rock in some areas. And it takes a skilled worker to know how to work in them kind of conditions."

Keith Hughes, business manager with Ironworkers Local 549 in Wheeling, points out that building compressor and processing stations is a lot like projects they have done for decades.

"Numerous chemical plants up and down the Ohio River, numerous scrubber projects at the power houses. All that same kind of work, just different process."

Hughes says the Ironworkers require that an apprentice put in three and a half years in training, 250 hours a year.

No one from the Texas company returned a call requesting comment. Chesapeake Energy says it has been hiring state workers, pointing to a successful job fair the company just ran in New Martinsville.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021