Center taps into Ohio oil, gas boom

Heavy machinery program aims to supply trained workers.

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Updated 3:21 PM Thursday, February 9, 2012

By Justin McClelland

Staff Writer

LEBANON — Leaders of the Warren County Career Center’s heavy machinery program said they are planning to heavily play a role in training Ohioans to get jobs from the proposed excavation of gas and oil located in Eastern Ohio.

Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program, an industry supported group, estimated that pulling gas from the Utica shale could result in 200,000 new jobs from the related leasing, exploring, drilling and construction work.

“We’re going to have something that is going to be tremendous. Employment-wise, there’s not going to be enough people to take care of it,” said Dick Reese, coordinator of the heavy equipment and site construction program at WCCC.

The Warren County program, which annually turns out more than 100 students that are trained and licensed to operate heavy machinery and semi-tractor trailers, has a more than 99 percent placement rate of jobs for graduates already base don data from the 2009-2010 school year, said spokeswoman Peg Allen.

Amber Eitniear, 30, of Edgerton, came to the program last October after she was laid off from an office job two years ago.

“This school is one of the best I know of,” said Eitniear, who is two weeks away from completing the course. “I feel confident in my abilities because they check everything you do. I know I won’t have trouble finding a job.

Reese started the program 12 years ago and estimates he has graduated 1,500 students. A program exists both for high school students and a separate program for adults looking to continue their education or transition their careers. The two-year high school program instructs students in hands-on equipment operation and site construction

For adults, the program takes four months of eight hour days to complete, designed to simulate a real work day.

“Employers want a person capable of everything in one package,” said Ed Mullins of Southern State Community College, which works with Reese so that students can also be licensed to drive semi-trucks. “They want a person who can drive a piece of equipment to a site, set it up and get it running.”

While the program does not teach fracking— the technique proposed to drill into the shale and remove the oil — Reese said it teaches everything else, including how to set up a construction site using modern technology, excavating and infrastructure improvement, all areas that will be needed if the shale is drilled into.

WCCC’s program costs about $8,700.

The tapping of the Utica Shale is not without controversy. More than 120 Ohioans protested Gov. John Kasich’s State of the State speech on Tuesday demanding the fracking be halted. Among concerns are that the fracking will cause serious harm to the environment.

Machines continued on C1

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