Oil pipeline sparks South Texas jobs boom
CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas - There's an old fashioned oil boom in South Texas.
A new pipeline in Hobson is gushing money for the small towns that dot a 400-mile stretch that geologists call the Eagle Ford Shale.
"I'm gonna hire as many people as I can possibly afford to hire," David Brodsky told CBS News reporter Bigad Shaban.
Brodsky used to own a coin laundrymat. Now, he's on his way to becoming a millionare.
"I was just sitting in my living room one day," Brodsky says, "and somebody knocked on my door and decided they wanted to lease my property for oil."
Brodsky used the money to buy three RV parks - which are now packed with oil workers. So he's expanding. He's building up to 600 rooms, which are all already rented.
Energy companies are rushing to the area to tap deposits that could produce up to 12 billion barrels of oil, and enough natural gas to power every American household for at least five years.
By 2020, that number is expected to increase to 66,000.
Denise Morales just moved to South Texas in hopes of landing an oil job that can pay up to $45 an hour. She's been unemployed for eight months.
"I could move out of my sister's home and live on my own and take care of myself," Morales says on the prospect of getting a job.
New workers like Morales add to Brodsky's bottom line. He plans to use the profits to send his six kids to college.
"They'll be taken care of, my grandkids will be taken care of," he says.
And, there's a chance his great-grandkids too. Companies plan to drill in the area for at least another 40 years.