The false promise of fracking and local jobs

[Sarcastica]

1. For the last two years I have been working on the environmental permitting of several pipelines from

Michigan to Pennsylvania and have shared hotels, bars and restaurants with lots of frackers. None are locals and the stories they tell of low pay and abuse is incredible. They make low wages, but think that they are doing well because they get per diem, as well as 20 to 30 mandatory hours of overtime each week. Work 6-7 days a week. Grown men sharing small hotel rooms. Some sleeping in shfits- one gets the bed while the other is away from the room on a 12 hour shift, and then they switch- just incredible.

Hotels are full and are filling with drugs and prostitution. We had several women on our crews and the drunk frackers could get pretty rough. Police had to be called many times for threats, fights and sexually aggressive behavior, that had it not been interrupted, would have been rape.

We had a saying. Pipeline trash makin' pipeline cash.