BY LAUREN SCHUGG
Staff Writer

“Fracking,” or exracting natural gas from the ground, may be controversial, but the message from a panel discussion held at the high school last month was not: There are a lot of jobs in the energy field.

The Steel Center Forum for Careers in the Energy Field was held in Baldwin’s auditorium on April 22. Representatives from Seneca Resources, NiSource, and West Virginia Northern Community College attended.

“It went well in the sense of the information delivered by the representatives, but when it comes to the number of people who came, it was disappointing,” guidance counselor Gerard Hall said.

A crowd of about 40 heard various representatives from these companies explain the field and the jobs they have to offer.

Brynnly Schwartz, community relations specialist of Columbia Gas, described the company as “your local utility business, kind of like FedEx, but for gas.”

Columbia Gas is a branch of the NiSource Company. At NiSource, they separate the jobs into three categories: human resources, skilled trade workers, and on-campus internships.

“Human resources are anything within the energy realm that you would go to college for. Skilled workers are more hands-on. The campus internships are a co-op for students who receive four years of additional education,” senior human resources consultant Keely Martin said.

When the steel industry in Pennsylvania collapsed, many people thought blue-collar jobs were gone, but that is not the case with the energy field, the speakers said.

“I am very confident I will still be working in the natural gas industry in 30 years. We always need energy, which means we need people working with this energy to continue,” Eric Cowden, of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said.

Occupations in the energy fields are not jobs that can be outsourced or taken over completely by machinery, Michael Koon, vice president in economic development at West Virginia Northern Community College, said.

“It’s an older industry. The first oil wells were in Pennsylvania. They left for a little bit, but now the need for oil is coming back,” Koon said.

Physical jobs are not the only jobs; desk jobs are needed and are overlooked.

A key part of the energy field is waiting to see the new developments in technology.

“There is always opportunity for growth, whether it is through additional education or through simple training,” Martin said.