Becky Wall and her brothers grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and they've seen plenty of booms and busts.
Mostly busts. Coal. Steel. Automobiles.
That's why they are only cautiously optimistic that the natural gas boom will bring the jobs and money so many hope for. "We're very conservative, we pay as we go," she says, "because we're always expecting the cycle will come around...because it always does."
Wall and her family own Dearing Compressor and Pump, supplying equipment for natural gas distribution to those trying to tap into the Marcellus and Utica shales, perhaps the largest natural gas deposits in the world. Inside Dearing's manufacturing facility they weld together massive compressor packages which can cost up to $2 million. Last year was the company's best ever for both the top and bottom lines. The firm has gone from 30 employees to 150 in eight years, and they could do even more business if they had more space. "There are jobs," Wall says.
