BLOSSBURG - About 70 people turned out to hear Fortuna Gas Co. representatives discuss the specifics of natural gas drilling and answer questions about leasing during an open house here Thursday.

Most were curious about the jobs expected to come to the area with the advent of drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

According to Fortuna's supervisor for community relations Janice Lobdell, Fortuna has eight producing wells in Tioga County and is permitted for 49 more, including several in Bloss and Ward townships set to commence as soon as possible.

Over five years, Fortuna expects to see 4,200 jobs created from its drilling operations in Tioga County.

"Now what about all these out of area license plates people are seeing?" said Jeff Lorson, industrial technology specialist with Pennsylvania College of Technology.

The reason for that is because the available labor pool here does not have the skills needed to work in the natural gas industry yet.

"But Penn College is offering several courses, including electromechanical technician and heavy equipment operation, and maintenance," he said.

This fall there will be courses offered for welding pipelines to handle the natural gas drawn out of the ground, along with commercial driver's license courses for truck drivers.

"The truckers we have brought in are not used to the small roads here, locals are, and it makes more sense to hire locals because we don't have to pay for motels," he said.

Lorson said he hopes to see a "transition from folks coming in to the local workforce as people are trained."

Protecting the water supply was also on people's minds, so company engineer Tom Cassetta discussed how Fortuna uses steel casing surrounded by concrete all the way down to the shale, which is 5,000 to 7,000 feet below the surface.

Aquifers are commonly 500 to 1,000 feet below the surface, he said.

Water availability also was discussed.

"We are fortunate in this area to have a lot of water," Cassetta said, noting that the amount of water needed to fracture the shale and produce gas is "a fraction" of the water that flows down the Susquehanna River.

Anyone needing more information can call the company's "Good Neighbor" hotline at 866-566-4747.