Western energy wealth has social costs

Sweetwater being swamped
Settled in the 1860s around a trading post, Rock Springs evolved into a livestock shipping point and mining town in Sweetwater County, a vast expanse that’s larger than New Jersey and Delaware combined. Now, Rock Springs, the largest of six incorporated communities within Sweetwater County with about 19,000 residents, is the center of a large natural gas development in southwestern Wyoming.

Sweetwater County produced enough gas in 2004 to heat nearly all households in Chicago for a year. There is so much activity oil and gas companies are forced to bring in crews from out of state to man the rigs and work the fields, according to Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

No one knows for sure how many workers have come from out of state, but the small Sweetwater County community of Wamsutter has seen its population grow from 247 people to about 1,200 in two years.

Amanda Rosenberg, executive director of United Way of Sweetwater County, said the greatest need occurs in the first two weeks between when someone starts a job and receives their first paycheck.

“It’s a very tight time for them,” Rosenberg said. “We even had agencies help individuals find a pair of steel-toed boots so they can go to work.”

One plus: Fewer food stamps
With plentiful jobs, the number of people needing long-term food stamps assistance has dropped, according to Pauline Carpenter, who supervisors food stamps, cash assistance and other benefits for the state Department of Family Services office in Rock Springs.

However, Carpenter said there is greater demand for medical assistance because company-supplied health care doesn’t start right away for new workers.

The medical care that is available is “stressed quite to the max” in Wyoming, a rural state where it’s always a challenge to recruit health care professionals and provide medical care to far-flung oil and gas fields, said Dr. Brent Sherard, director of the state Health Department.

“I think the energy boom has and will create more problems with access to health care,” Sherard said.

Another major problem is the lack of child care, especially for parents working odd hours in oil and gas fields that operate around the clock.

The YWCA isn’t meeting the daycare demand because it can’t find enough employees, said Christie DeGrendele, executive director. “It’s the one area where we can’t provide services to those requesting it,” she said.

All social service organizations and local police agencies reported difficulty finding workers because they can’t compete against oil and gas jobs that offer $20 an hour or more.

Meantime, the workload is increasing.

“The troopers in this area are just running from call to call to call,” said Capt. Dave Cunningham, state Highway Patrol district supervisor in Rock Springs.

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