Oil and Gas
Oil and gas production in Utah is booming -- a big reason for the surplus revenues we will battle over this session. To get a better feel for the production activity in the Uintah Basin, my son and I visited Rep. John Mathis in Vernal this past week. I am blown away at the level of activity and investment.
The big problem (and it seems to be quite big) is finding workers. The way it was repeatedly explained to me, just about anyone -- who is willing to do physical work and can pass a drug test -- can work in the fields as a roughneck (on a week, off a week) for $70,000/year. If they don't want to do that, they can work in town for nice wages, in place of the other workers who have gone out to the fields.
Figuring Ike (my eight-year-old son) had endured enough adult stuff (though Ike thought the drilling rig and peeking into the furnace at Bonanza Power Plant -- 2,500 degrees F -- were pretty cool), John took us to Fantasy Canyon, which was stunning.
The big problem (and it seems to be quite big) is finding workers. The way it was repeatedly explained to me, just about anyone -- who is willing to do physical work and can pass a drug test -- can work in the fields as a roughneck (on a week, off a week) for $70,000/year. If they don't want to do that, they can work in town for nice wages, in place of the other workers who have gone out to the fields.
Figuring Ike (my eight-year-old son) had endured enough adult stuff (though Ike thought the drilling rig and peeking into the furnace at Bonanza Power Plant -- 2,500 degrees F -- were pretty cool), John took us to Fantasy Canyon, which was stunning.
posted by steve u. at 1/09/2006
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2 Comments:
There's a reason it's hard to find roughnecks: the work sucks. Who do you know that wants to spend long days doing hard, dirty manual labor in a lonely, remote location for days at a time?
My grandfather did that kind of work decades ago. But he was "hungry" for work. He had a family to feed. There were no social programs that allowed him to sit at home watching cable, playing his X-Box and talking on his cell phone while waiting for a decent job opportunity to come along.
You nailed it reach upward. We have unfortunately created a culture that compensates laziness and unproductivity. It is much easier to fill out an application for welfare and food stamps than to work the oil fields
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