Apalachin Community Press, November 2001

eCORP's Stagecoach Gas Storage Project a Boost to Local Economy

Story and Photos by Jonathan Fyock, The Photo Doctor
 
Rotella Corporation steel riggers from Endwell, New York, install cross members to support the steel and cement that will cover the roof of the eCORP Stagecoach Gas Storage Project's compression station in South Owego.
      Rumors were that eCORP was employing people from out of the area and out of the state for their multi-faceted project, a project that will provide cleaner burning fuel, lower consumer energy costs, and less dependence on Middle East oil. I decided to investigate the undocumented claims to find out if anyone other than this landowner, The Photo Doctor, was benefitting directly from the project.
 Admittedly, the well drilling itself is a highly specialized activity without many employment opportunities for local workers. Not so with the rest of the project. Many of the laborers on the pipeline project were working out of the Binghamton union local. Noticeable was that all of the welders were from the same Pipeliners 798 Union even though they were from Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and other states. At the compression station located in South Owego all of the contractors and their workers were local with many of my former students from Owego and Apalachin greeting me as I arrived twice per week with my cameras to document the procedure for eCORP. The workers that had traveled the furthest were the ironworkers from the Syracuse area.
 It needs to be added that all of the imported workers and supervisors from Houston, Oklahoma City, Shreveport, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are living and spending their money in Tioga County. Without exception, all of the people I have met on the project are all hard working Americans with the work ethic and moral values that have made America the greatest country on earth. Would the critics of the project prefer to have the USA more dependent on Arab oil?