Today the Tribune  reported on a great story about Eastern Gateway Community College (EGCC) and Warren Ohio partnering on a ShaleNet project to put local residents back to work.  The training is free and shows how committed the city of Warren and the County of Trumbull are to shale development.

Yesterday EGCC hosted two free sessions at the Packard Music Hall in Warren on their free ShaleNet training program.  The event drew over 300 people from the surrounding areas anxious to hear about shale opportunities coming to the region.

This is actually the second biggest story on shale development to come out of Trumbull County in the past week.  Just last week BP announced they were investing over 331 million in acreage they are planning to develop.  The residents of Trumbull County are just beginning to see the great benefits shale production will be providing to the county.

In anticipation of continuing development, Warren Mayor William D. Franklin worked closely with EGCC to make sure his residents were prepared to take full advantage of the opportunities shale development will bring to eastern Ohio.  He even secured funding to help reimburse his constituents for their physicals, background checks and drug tests if they join the program.

The Mayor welcomed everyone yesterday to the event and recognized the significance of the program and the great potential that exists for the city.

This program is a collaboration with Eastern Gateway Community College.  You are going to presented with some valuable information regarding some of the employment opportunities that should be coming our way particularly with the ShaleNet and shale plays in the area. – Mayor William D. Franklin

After the Mayor’s warm welcome, EGCC’s Tracee Joltes  and Michael Lorms presented the ShaleNet program to those in attendance.  It was a great presentation of the ShaleNet program and the great opportunities that exist with Utica development.

EGCC’s Warren campus will be hosting the program at their campus offering a variety of training ranging from production tech and roustabout programs among others.  Michael Lorms, ShaleNet instructor, will be training those interested in the area.  This will be his third class for the ShaleNet program for EGCC.

The upcoming courses will be either a floorhand or roustabout class which will be three weeks long.  It will be safety intensive.  Like our other classes we offered, it will focus on job skills as well a background to the oil and gas industry probably some heavy equipment.  In addition we will be taking the class to a rig site in the area.  And we are really hoping to bolster some of the workforce here in the Warren area and accommodate them with new job in a growing industry. – Michael Lorms

When both sessions were finished EGCC had over 100 applications with more to be filled out for the program from not only Warren but many of the surrounding towns and counties.  Although there are only about 18 spaces available for this class, EGCC hopes to be able to offer more classes to those interested in the future.

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