By: Kristie Kubovic, Director of Communications, Shale Media Group
Edited By: Mindy Gattner, Editor, Shale Media Group
Images Provided By: Shale Media Group

The Pittsburgh Business Times recognized the 2014 Who’s Who in Pittsburgh Energy on Thursday, October 23 at a reception at The Meadows Casino in Washington, PA. Since 2004, when Range Resources pioneered the Marcellus Shale play with the drilling of the first vertical well, southwestern Pennsylvania has seen significant changes and contributions from the shale oil and gas industry.

In 2008, when the rest of the country was in a recession, Pittsburgh wasn’t hit as hard, due largely in part to the Marcellus Shale play. Since then, places like Pittsburgh have set the post-recession pace for jobs, again largely due to jobs directly related to the shale oil and gas industry and the ancillary ones to support the industry and those working in it. In a few short years, the median age of Pittsburgh and the surrounding population has dropped from one of the oldest across the country to one of the youngest.

R.T. Walker, Vice President and Leader, CBRE Energy Facilities Group, pointed out that when you’re successful at placing a company in an area, it causes a domino effect. “First you’ll see more traffic (often behind those company trucks at traffic lights), which forces the roads and intersections to improve. Better intersections yield more corners, which leads to more retail businesses and more jobs. If you continue down that road, then you see the Targets and Walmarts (Big Box Retail) moving in and construction to build those, and so on and so forth. Overall the entire economy is affected.”

Consequently, the addition of one company has a positive impact on an area. The addition of an entire industry, like the shale oil and gas industry in southwestern Pennsylvania, significantly changes a region’s economy. Focusing on the categories of Advocacy/Education; Energy Companies; Engineering, Testing & Compliance; Finance/Accounting; Government; Law; Manufacturing/Transportation; and Real Estate/Construction, the Pittsburgh Business Times named around 180 recipients to the list of important players in our region’s energy sector.

Here are some of the individuals recognized:

Advocacy/Education:
• David Spigelmyer, Marcellus Shale Coalition
• John Pippy, Pennsylvania Coal Association
• Louis D’Amico, PIOGA
• Rick Price, Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities
• Jeff Kotula, Washington County Chamber of Commerce

Energy Companies:
• Nicholas J. Deluiis, CONSOL Energy Inc.
• J. Brett Harvey, CONSOL Energy Inc.
• Randall Crawford, EQT Corporation
• David Porges, EQT Corporation
• Steven Schottenbeck, EQT Corporation
• David McDonald, FirstEnergy Corporation
• Brian Rayburn, MarkWest Liberty Midstream
• Bob Beatty, “O” Ring CNG Fuel System, L.P.
• John Applegath, Range Resources Corporation
• K. Scott Roy, Range Resources Corporation
• Bill Zagorski, Range Resources Corporation
• Derek Rice, Rice Energy Inc.
• Toby Rice, Rice Energy Inc.

Engineering, Testing & Compliance:
• Stephen Dixon, Civil & Environmental Consultants
• Dustin Kuhlman, Civil & Environmental Consultants
• Elizabeth Gregg, Environmental Service Laboratories
• Greg Lorson, TEEMCO
• Daryl Heiser, Weavertown Environmental Group

Finance/Accounting:
• Barron “Pat” McCune, Jr., Community Bank
• Patrick O’Brien, First Federal Savings Bank
• Brian J. Smith, Washington Financial

Government:
• The Hon. Pam Snyder, Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• The Hon. Timothy Solobay, Pennsylvania Senate
• The Hon. Tim Murphy, U.S. House of Representatives
• The Hon. Larry Maggi, Washington County Board of Commissioners
• The Hon. Harlan G. Shober, Jr., Washington County Board of Commissioners
• The Hon. Diana Irey Vaughan, Washington County Board of Commissioners

Manufacturing/Transportation:
• Ron Phelps, Beemac Trucking

Real Estate/Construction:
• R.T. Walker, CBRE Energy Facilities Group
• Rod Piatt, Horizon Property Group, LLC
• Mike Swisher, Horizon Property Group, LLC
• Mark Caskey, Steel Nation, Inc.

Taking a closer look at some of the recipients:

CBRE is the world’s largest fully integrated real estate company. The Energy Facilities Group specializes in the facilities needs of energy companies across North America and the world. The Energy Facilities Group represents shale oil and gas companies moving into a region or expanding in it and helps them locate industrial, office and yard space to conduct their business in and around the shale plays. Walker has consulted with and/or placed hundreds of energy companies in the Pittsburgh region.

“O” Ring CNG Fuel System, L.P. is a full-service global compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel solutions company based in Western Pennsylvania. Their goal is to promote the use of CNG as a clean, abundant and economical North American energy source in order to boost our economy, reduce foreign oil purchases, enhance national security, create more jobs for U.S. workers and reduce harmful emissions into the environment. Bob Beatty, President, “O” Ring CNG Fuel System has numerous CNG fueling station projects currently underway in the greater Pittsburgh region.

A long-haul, steel hauling, flatbed carrier and logistics company, Beemac Trucking provides services to customers throughout North America. In addition to being a trucking company, they have an intermodal river-port facility located in Leetsdale, PA, where they load and unload barges, railcars and trucks, as well as provide indoor and outdoor warehousing services. Beemac Trucking recently celebrated the grand opening of their Bee Green CNG Fueling station in Ambridge, PA in which Director of Operations Ron Phelps was integral. The CNG station is the first for Beaver County, PA and the sixth in the Pittsburgh area.

Lead by CEO, Greg Lorson, TEEMCO is a professional environmental engineering firm, providing engineering, design construction, remediation and spill response solutions to shale oil and gas, agriculture and marine industries. TEEMCO’s Environmental Division provides engineering services, facility construction and remediation services. The Engineering Services Department creates all types of emergency response plans, spill prevention plans and air permitting. It also provides field inspection services necessary to create and maintain all required plans and reports. The oil and gas industry is TEEMCO’s core market, in particular, the upstream oil and gas sector.

The entire list of Who’s Who awardees will be published in a special Pittsburgh Business Times supplement in November.

Shale Media Group (SMG) is a news, information, education and mapping resource dedicated to the shale oil and gas industries by messaging across video, Internet, publications, events and radio. For more, check out ShaleMediaGroup.com to access all platforms, including: TheMarcellusShale.com, TheUticaShale.com, TheShaleAcademy.com and ShaleEnergyNow.com. Kristie Kubovic is the Director of Communications at Shale Media Group. Contact her at Kristie@ShaleMediaGroup.com.