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Marcellus Shale a Boon to Steel Industry

The Wall Street Journal has a piece today about how a depressed steel town in eastern Ohio just got a shot in the arm because of the need for more steel tubing. Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania means more pipeline construction and more tubes needed to frack wells. The French steel company, Vallourec & Mannesmann Holdings Inc., is building a new plant in Youngstown, Ohio, which will create about 250 new jobs. That’s not enough to raise the town from its ashes but the article makes an interesting connection — affordable steel manufacturing is dependant on cheap natural gas to fuel the power plants, and the abundance of new shale reserves has driven gas prices down.
Speaking of jobs, Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Jim Cawley will be speaking in Philadelphia today about gas industry employment opportunities with labor officials. Will Philadelphians start moving upstate for jobs? We’ll have more on Cawley’s talk later this afternoon.

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