By Jenna Chilingerian
July 2, 2012

The "Preparing the Future Workforce to Generate Jobs and Ensure America's Energy Independence" forum, moderated by Conference of Mayors Work and Opportunity Task Force Chair Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, and sponsored by the America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), featured a mayors' panel discussion of job training in natural gas occupations to put city residents to work in high'skill, high-wage jobs in the energy industry. Panel participants Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas, Assistant Vice President of Workforce Development and Special Projects at the Pennsylvania College of Technology Larry Michael, and Manager of External Relations at the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Matt Carmichael talked about opportunities for connecting the workforce to this industry through education and training programs.

In his opening remarks, Rawlings emphasized the need and want of jobs in America, stressing that the American people "go where the jobs are…go where the money is…and we must drive opportunities where there are jobs." Additionally, Rawlings argued that the top issue the U.S. faces today is "jobs, jobs, jobs." At the same time, today an increasing number of people view the energy industry as an answer to the question of jobs in the U.S. The forum focused on the topics of creating jobs, pushing for the U.S. toward energy independence, and promoting education and training.

Starting the discussion, Salinas spoke of the challenge in his city of Laredo. In a state and city equipped with the infrastructure for the energy industry, putting people back to work was a key challenge. Salinas' answer was to "train [our] people to compete." He spoke of how the city of Laredo helped to ensure that the community was able to capture the jobs in the energy industry by providing its workforce with education and training through the community college.

Michael relayed the story of the Marcellus Shale Formation and the problems that initially arose in his area. When the Marcellus Shale Formation was discovered in 2008, the region was not equipped to train and educate the workforce- the challenge was to turn the unconventional area into a successful economic opportunity. In just 3 to 4 months, the region went from having very little production to creating thousands of jobs. The immediate success followed a partnership between the Pennsylvania College of Technology and Pennsylvania State known as ShaleNET, which created an oil and gas technology program to educate and train students. In two years, the ShaleNET collaboration educated and trained 3,500 in pre-employment and short-term programs.

Carmichael rounded off the discussion by explaining the role of corporations in connecting the workforce to education and training programs. Jobs exist in the natural gas industry: nearly 2.8 million jobs have been created. This provides an opportunity to train and educate the workforce in this growing industry. Today, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation operates in eight states and twenty countries and works with colleges to put people to work. Additionally, Carmichael characterized the work of the ShaleNET collaboration as a "plug n' play" program due to the immediate positive results.

Rawlings concluded the forum by driving home the main issue of the day- jobs- and stressed the importance of education and training as solutions. The three main takeaways from this forum are that good jobs exist in the energy industry, the American workforce must be educated and trained in order to enter into these occupations, and the role of cities in this industry's future will be to lead and create partnerships with colleges, which will boost the pool of workers.