Following a story MHProNews first published Sept. 1, 2014 regarding a modular workforce housing complex to be built in McComb, Mississippi for oilfield workers fracking on the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) in southwest MS and central Louisiana, the 536-bed lodge by CMS Consultants, LLC of Metairie, LA will be constructed in two phases. The first phase will see 240 beds and 270 parking spaces, while the second phase will be another 296 beds and 309 parking spots, according to huffingtonpost.com. Similar to college dorms, there will be one or two beds to each unit with a private bath, table and refrigerator, and a dining hall for meals. Each modular building will be comprised of four studio apartments.

In St. Francisville, consultant to landowners Hamilton Willis says of the sixty wells drilled into TMS, 11 are active rigs, and each rig requires almost 200 people for round-the-clock operation. The oilfield workers work seven and 14-day shifts, sleeping in travel trailers near the rig, and then have a near equivalent stretch of time off when they can stay in the modular mancamps, several of which are under construction, as the region braces for an influx of workers. Many area motels and hotels are full. As MHProNews said in the earlier story, geologists estimate there are seven billion barrels of oil in the TMS. ##

(Photo credit: Tom Haines/theatlantic.com–oil rigs in Watford City, North Dakota)