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How is everyone dealing with the Marcellus Shale work?

twistr2002

twistr2002

Bronze Member
Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
35
Location
Backwoods,PA
Hello Everyone.

I live and work in north central Pennsylvania, and within the last year or so the amount of people in the area has almost doubled due to all of the oil and gas industry workers moving into the area. With this comes the "temporary job trailers" that they use as mobile offices or whatnot. It also brings up the company's buying existing single family homes and filling them with 15+ workers, then you also get the workers that drag their camper along with them and move them into a trailer park, or even live on the jobsites. Any advice on how to deal with the any above situations would be appreciated.

thanks

Matt
 
Just an interesting observation. I am from a little town right in the middle of this Marcellus shale boom. I recently returned there for the holidays and was blown away by the developments. In picking the brains of my old associates I found that while the local economy is booming, it isn't doing much for the building market. I am told it is still too transient and temporary. Partly due to the nature of the work and partly due to the fear that sooner or later the EPA or some other agency is going to put a stop or severely curb whats going on. I was told of the houses with 15 people, sleeping on cots etc. It will only be a matter of time before some disaster befalls one of these towns and the public outcry will be heard across the country. I feel for the inspectors and FM (where they exist). They are going to be put in real bad spots.
 
We have a property maintenance code and inspect any dwelling that is not owner-occupied. Our PM code spells out overcrowding, etc. It helps.
 
fortunatley or unfortunatly however you want to look at it. PA did not adopt the property maintenance code. This is one situation that it would help
 
Our Inspection Agency currently covers 50 municipalities across 4 counties, so getting every one of to take on a property maintainance code would; 1. Never fly because of the rural area, 2.Completely overload our agency with..."his grass is too tall","Joe Blow has 3 "parts" cars in his yard", "my landlord refuses to do_______"....but you havent paid rent in 6 months. some how always gets left out. Property maintainance would just be way to much too enforce for "backwoods" PA
 
We have an ordinance on the books placing a 48 hour time limit on how long RVs, camp trailers, fifth wheels, etc. can be occupied outside of a park. Longer must be okayed by City Council.

Good luck, we had gas pipeliners over in the valley last year and it turned into a mess. Good thing they were only transient (under a year). Still and all, tore up the roads and those yahoos drove like a bat out of h*ll over Cedar Pass (6305') in snowy weather.

All I can say is good luck.
 
I'm also interested in the "temporary office trailers". Seems that if they are going to be there less then 180 days we have no control? Also is anyone having issues with the "temporary" tents that are going up to allow workers to work out of the weather (They are only up for 60 to 90 days)? I have not found anything in the 2009 family of codes that would control this. Anyone have any ideas?

docgj
 
Without backing from the powers to be, not much you can do, try to involve them and the Fire Dept. It will be good for the local economy but at what cost? Good luck.
 
twistr2002,

Recommend that; if you haven't already, to have a sit down meeting with the your

powers-that-be & borough / county / municipal attorney to discuss options and

draft an ordinance to be effective immediately. Also, read thru, tweak and adopt

the IPMC for your benefit.

If you do not do something pretty quickly, it's just going to get worse and

worse. Also, we realize that you may not be able to optimally control everything,

or even correct something in place, but at least having something adopted,

however minimally, is better than doing nothing.

Hope this helps, and by all means, keep us informed! There are others

with your same dilemna.

.
 
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One of the townships that I deal with changed their zoning ordinance to include campers. More than one on a property they need to follow the trailer park requirements. Didn't slow it down, but they are sure that sewer is going where it is supposed to go not in the ditch behind the camper.

docgj
 
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