Deaths increase in West Virginia oil, gas industry

[theHandpuppet]

The Charleston Gazette
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Deaths increase in West Virginia oil, gas industry
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer

As West Virginia’s natural gas industry booms, more workers are paying the price as deaths on the job are increasing, according to new federal government data.

Thirteen workers in the state’s oil and gas industry died during the five-year period between 2008 and 2012, according to the data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s more than double the five workers who died in the industry during the previous five-year period, between 2004 and 2008, according to the bureau.

The increase in worker deaths came as natural gas production in West Virginia — fueled by the rush to tap into the Marcellus Shale reserves — also more than doubled, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Other states that are part of America’s energy boom also are seeing increased workplace deaths. Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania have seen increases in worker fatalities, according to the bureau’s data, first reported last week by the Houston Chronicle. - See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140504/GZ01/140509776/1419#sthash.h4wsp12B.dpuf

[Champion Jack]

1. How many deaths are occurring in the solar industry? Or wind?