Oil and gas group tries to clean up its image, but not its practices

by: Carnacki

Wed Mar 30, 2011 at 09:51:13 AM EDT

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia  plans to launch an advertising campaign touting the industry's contributions to the state, saying the natural gas sector has unfairly gotten a bad reputation during the debate over tougher regulations for Marcellus Shale drilling.

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Some have criticized the industry for hiring out-of-state workers from areas such as Oklahoma and Texas.

"The Marcellus formation is being drilled not because it was just discovered, but because of new technology," McCown said. "That technology was developed in other states."

He said the industry is aggressively trying to hire West Virginians and that the out-of-state workers also help local economies.

"If people come from out of state and stay at the hotels here, and eat at the restaurants and buy gasoline at the service stations, I don't think that's a bad thing," he said.

Sure, come here, trash the place, destroy our roads, pollute our water even more than it already is, but it's all good because some of your workers might leave a tip at the restaurant they stop at on their way back home out of state.