Good morning. Welcome to episode 126 of the Driller Newscast, a weekly update on the news and stories impacting the drilling, construction, geothermal, and water industry. I'm your host, Brock Yordy, and we're going to jump right into our feature this week with Sam Connelly, president of the National Drilling Association. They're about to have one hack of an event in Cleveland, Ohio on the 25th and 26th of September at the Huntington Center. And you got to be there - there's going to be a ton of collaboration, talking safety drilling technologies and inspiring the next generation of workforce—all things that we need to be part of. I can't wait to jump into this, so let's get right into it. 

Interview with Sam Connelly

I am super excited about this week's feature. We have a very busy man here, Sam Connelly, with Connelly and Associates, who is doing geotechnical drilling, environmental drilling, and geothermal in our nation's capital—that’s a very busy area to be moving equipment and running a great team.

We've had one of [Connelly’s] drillers on as one of our Emerging Drillers, a wonderful company, and on top of that, he's president of the National Drilling Association. We talk a lot about geothermal on here, and we talk a lot about water wells. Then we have the NDA, and I always joke [with people]: "Are you part of the NDA?  And they're like, “You want me to sign an NDA right now?” And I'm like, no, the National Drilling Association!” So I'm excited to have Sam here. 

If you haven't made it to one of these events or one of the chapter meetings or these epic training days they're having, you need to get out there. There is a lot of comradery. They are talking about equipment, innovation, and best practices. They are talking safety. I would say out of the associations we have across the country, the emphasis that the NDA has on safety dwarfs what many of us do. We could really take a much better stance as the NDA does by giving out awards and recognizing how we operate. 

So I've said a lot. Welcome, Sam. It's great to have you, and I know you're a very busy man with working in DC and Baltimore and up and down the coast.

Sam

Oh, thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here. It's been a very busy year in the drilling industry from a geotechnical environmental and geothermal sense. We've been running rigs from as far south as Georgia to as far north as New York, and it's been a good year though. We've been blessed, that's for sure. So from the work side of it, it's been a great year,

Brock 

A busy year, and you've been busy with the NDA. There's been onsite learning events from Ontario down to Florida and Texas, and I think you're about to do one in California. It's all over the place.

Sam 

Yeah, we've had an incredible year with the National Drilling Association. At the beginning of the year, we had seven active chapters, and we hope to, at the end of the year, grow that to 10 chapters throughout the country. So it's been an incredible expansion year. The events that we held back in the spring, we held six chapter spring training days the year before we held four. So it's exponentially grown. It's been exciting to see the interest from not just members of the National Drilling Association, but people coming to these events that are looking for education and just ways to train their people. And we're providing an environment, a non-threatening environment in terms of being able to bring their people in, show them new drilling techniques, safety, bringing in new ideas for how to successfully and safely work around the drill rig. And there just isn't a lot of training avenues out there for the geotechnical and environmental industry specifically. So from our standpoint, we feel like it's the mission and duty of the National Drilling Association to provide this for member companies.

Brock

It's wild. I've thrown these numbers out here, and environmental and geotechnical and geothermal and mining, along with industrial drilling and water, are driving our civilization and what we do. But it is wild to think if there are 162 million Americans who work every day, there are only eight and a quarter million who are involved in construction. And then if we drill down into that eight and a quarter million, only 1.15 million work in something that is excavation or drilling involved. By the time you get down to the final numbers, there are less than 20,000 drillers in the United States. 

So, as you talk about education sessions or a safe place or our focus on safety, it is very easy for OSHA and everybody to focus on falls, electrocution, trenches, and confined spaces, but dang it, we get very specialized (in the drilling industry). Being able to bring people together and talk about best practices and innovations and risk mitigation from our highly specialized section is crazy. And I know from the teams you lead to these learning events you host—being able to go in and get everyone to not lead with “I need to get back to work today”, or “Dang it, how many feet do we need to make ROI” is important. To take a breath, have that coffee, and then share knowledge is a unique way to get into this. And I love that the NDA is doing that.

Sam 

Yeah, I think the collaboration and our training events in the spring is really fascinating because we held six different training events and they were in six different parts of the country, and that was, drilling is a very, you've heard me say it before, probably Drilling is a very regional business and the industry is very regional. And so being able to, as you said, drill down into what are the critical concerns of that area through our training days, I think is what makes us a little bit unique. And the fact that from a national standpoint that we're able to support those local chapters and their endeavors to perform and be better at what they do and be safer at what they do.

Brock

There are so many specified different ways of getting data in geotechnical and environmental drilling. An what we're doing, and the stakes that are involved, from making sure that parking structures are going to be sound to everything to do with the highway infrastructure to now what I like to call Godzilla, PFAS slowly stomping its way in. And the amount of drillers and defining we must do. When we think about water wells, from private homes to irrigation or municipal water wells, there are a half dozen specifications to get that done. And then you [focus on] our industry and our core business, and add that each engineering firm has a different set of expectations and recipe.  And it is important for us to look at all angles of attack.

Sam 

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you've got to have the all-encompassing view of it when you're going into it.

Brock

So with that, we have coming up the 25th and 26th of September in Cleveland, the national event, the NDA Drill Expo. What are you excited about? I've been to a couple of these and I've never been to a rooftop social. I mean, I feel like you guys are going big. This one.

Sam 

Well, we really came out of last year looking to redefine ourselves, rebrand ourselves a little bit. So we launched the rebranding with the Drill expo this year with a concentration on bringing in drills from around the world to be on display, providing that to the manufacturers out there, and then also moving from our traditional settings to a convention hall, a downtown city convention hall. We made the decision that as the National Drilling Association, we wanted to bring more back to our members to put on an event that said, not only that we firmly believe in where we are and where we're headed as an organization, but that it's not just about staying relevant. It's about providing a service and networking and a collaboration opportunity unlike any other out there for the geotechnical environmental industry. 

We're looking in the future to opening it up to the geothermal industry as well. I think if you're a driller, the NDA is a home for you. That's kind of the way I look at it. And I believe that we're the National Drilling Association. We're not the National Geotechnical Association, national Environmental Association. We're not that specialized. We started as that, and that's what our home is. But we're looking to grow the organization in a way that we believe we have a message and we have a group of people that are very passionate about the future of the industry and protecting it and making the best decisions to protect the industry. So I think that the convention at the end of September, it's going to be a tremendous exciting event.  

It's going to be a fun filled, packed two days. We're going to have a golf tournament the first day, we're going to have a brewery and ice cream tour for those that don't play golf during that first day as well. I think about 4:30 pm EST the first day, we're going to have a two hour happy hour on the exhibit floor in the convention hall. A lot of our event is going to be centered around the convention hall and the exhibitors that are going to be there and the manufacturers that are going to be available. 

Day two, we're going to have a day of presentations just right next to the convention hall, just up the escalator from it. We've got a tremendous keynote speaker coming in, Patrick Nelson, who I personally got to hear last year, has a tremendous story and brings a great mindset to safety, especially in the construction I think. And then at the end of the day, we got a Q&A  with the driller from Oak Island, which is going to be a lot of fun, I think, getting to learn what it's like drilling on a television show. So I think we've got an exciting slate of speakers for the day mixed in with some good technical aspects of drilling, and then just a great event to be able to see all the exhibitors that are there and actually have some time to visit and catch up with everybody.

Brock

It's going to be fun. Do you guys know what brewery as a major craft beer geek?

Sam 

It's going to be the Great Lakes Brewery.

Brock

Huge fan of Great Lakes Brewing. Have some October Fest in my fridge right now I'm very excited for Labor Day. I know that's going on and obviously with the Newscast as we're doing this interview, we're a week out. So I just referenced Labor Day and pulled the curtain back a little bit.

But Great Lakes Brewing OG within the first dozen in the country and has been a big proponent of clean water and environmentalism and zero discharge, and that's going to be cool. I suck at golf, so I may have to be geeking out with those guys, and they're probably right in the middle of brewing Christmas ale to pull the back even further, and that's probably one of the top beers in the country.

Sam

So I think it's going to be a fantastic event. Oh, I left out at the first night. We're going to have a rooftop social party. We've got a local band there in Cleveland called Disco Inferno coming into play up on the rooftop. So I think it's going to be a fantastic event, that whole first night kickoff event, so before getting down to work and rolling up our sleeves the next day. So I think it's going to be just a great couple days, and I'm encouraging as many people to come as possible and they're evolved in the industry. 

I've been to about 13 or 14 NDA conventions and have always come back with new ideas for my business, my people, and my outlook on the drilling industry. So it's always a very positive experience.

Brock

And we as an industry, we say, “Man, we want more engagement with equipment manufacturers. We want to see more equipment. We want to have Q&As on credible industry things going on, and we want it to be at this epic downtown event and we want some sort of party”. And as a new founder of an association that is in the geothermal industry that Robert Meyer and I hope to get to talk to you about, I just put you on the spot on the newscast with the Geothermal Drillers Association, raising money and getting people to a big city and a convention hall. The reason why we see these in a Baltimore Marriott basement and everybody just having their tabletop with trifolds is because equipment manufacturers, it costs money. As I worked for GEFCO to bring equipment in, it costs lots to put a booth together and dedicate time to be at these, and it's important for us to engage with the audience. But when you look at the manufacturer side and then drill contractor side, and then you look at what an association has to bring in and make it reasonable to bring everybody to it, it's expensive.

So with this expansion to Cleveland, with this exhibit hall, and Oak Island, I can't wait to ask some questions to the Oak Island guy because I know all of us drillers, he should be nervous right now.  Because we’re going to ask and he going to ask, “Why the hell would you do that?” And he's going to go, “It's for the suspension of disbelief, everybody.”

But if I could hit home to everybody in this audience right now, listening to Sam and the NDA and everything going on, and Rachel Bourne writes for The Driller, Jeff Garby writes for The Driller, Robert Meyer writes for The Driller, Dave Bowers writes for The Driller, and they're predominantly geotechnical and environmental and geothermal. This is a big piece of our industry and to expand, to have this big party and event, we need everybody to be there.

So, that's my soapbox, but that's if anything— Great Lakes Beer, Oak Island, and being able to be at a rooftop party—I don't know if there's a better way for Chelsea and I to spend our 10-year anniversary. I just got to tell her that “ Hey, 10 years we're going to this luxurious town of Cleveland.”

Sam

Yeah, tell her it's going to be an incredible celebration, a two-day party, there you go.

Brock 

There you go. Maybe I'll find an ordained minister and we'll just renew our vows at the rooftop.

Sam 

Fantastic.

Brock 

No, I'm sure she would. That would be how I can join that other end of the drilling industry with a partner that's upset. Well, cool. You have a new website, NDA4U.net.

Everyone, join. Water well drillers, as you're looking at your business and diversifying, you need to understand what's going on with droughts and Gen X chemicals. We have a lot of pieces that are now intersecting with our engineering firms and impacts to what our aquifers will be. And for us to be able to know our good geotechnical and environmental drilling companies that are going to be collaborating with us on site and getting that. There's so many pieces right now that there's a reason to be part of the NDA and how we grow. Water is dynamic; geothermal with the urban networks, very dynamic. Again, we're going to be working with geotechnical investigation on some of these sites. Not to mention the next time you show up on an urban site and you look at it and you go, “Man, there should have been a Starbucks there.” I guarantee if you start looking at some geotechnical logs and you can call up a good company, the collaboration that needs to happen that Sam just mentioned, if you're a driller, you need to be able to start these conversations. There's not a better place to do it than Cleveland.

Sam 

Yep. Nope, not at all. I mean, the drilling industry is no different than any other industry. Your power comes in numbers and you can't have numbers without a proper network and collaboration between like-minded people. So I just think it's so important. Drillers are drillers and drilling companies are always the first to complain about what is not possible or what is not capable of. And if you come to events like this, you won't have any choice but to open your mind and understand that anything is possible that you want for your business and the world that you work in. But it takes, like I said, it takes people, it takes numbers, it takes ideas floating around, and a lot of good can come out of it.

Brock 

That's a great point. As you think about the National Home Builders Association or if we can aspire to think about what touches other things, but the ability to get to 25,000 members or something, that puts us in a point that as we put behind that we can do a call to action to DC or to a State House or Senate, and we can do that now. It's just, let's face it, when the Home Builders Association calls up DC and says, we have X-number of members that are about to put behind their votes on this, our voice, we're not just that section, especially since nothing happens until we drill first.

Sam

That's right. That's so true. That's so true. Carry much more power than we believe.

Brock 

Yeah. Well, I'm excited. And this is the start of your second term of being president.

Sam

Yes. Yeah. So this will be, I got one more year left after this, so it's the end. I'm going into the final year coming up. But yeah, it's been a great run since I came in right after COVID and we've had just a great time with a lot of tremendous people building this organization and growing it the way we have.

Brock 

Well, and that's cool with now 10 chapters. We need more live training events. And the fact that I want you to think about audience, the fact that you get signed up, you go to one of these live events, ask about, Hey, is there a high school student? Is there a trade school? Bring along a tag along so we can get them thinking about how cool it is to be drilling so we can start recruiting better than the electricians, plumbers, and framers.

Sam 

Yep, yep. Absolutely. So I'll give him a little plug for our next chapter, introduction, meet-and-greet. I'm going to be in the Los Angeles area September 10th. We're holding a meet-and-greet that evening. Information is on our website. We hope to start a chapter in southern California, Los Angeles. I think right now we're sitting at right around 40 attendees or so set up to come to it about 11 or 12 different contractors. So we're very excited to start something out west. And we were in Florida last month, kicking off a chapter down in the Tampa, Orlando area. So, just kind of a call to geotechnical, environmental drillers, all drilling companies that are out there. If you want to come to a fun event, it's free of charge, it's all paid for. So you just got to show up, have a free dinner, and have a good time and be around people that are at the top of the industry.

Brock 

So wait, now I can go to Tampa and San Diego and I could see where these could be a lot of fun too; these are some great locations to be having events.

Sam 

Yeah, well, we're looking to build chapters in areas that the drilling companies are willing to come together and collaborate and work together. I keep using the same word collaborate, but it's really what it is. And in an effort to raise the bar on the professionalism in their area. And I think when you raise the bar on professionalism, you get to raise a whole lot of other things, if you know what I mean. But that's kind of the key to being the best in the industry.

Brock

So last question puts you on the spot as you're expanding. Is there a section of the country right now that we can do a call to action? Are there some folks that are there somewhere in the Mid-Con or where would another great hub that if we turn this into NDA risk edition, where do I want to put my next spin on the risk board?

Sam

I think Chicago would be a fantastic area. There's a lot of great drilling companies in the Chicago area, and I think connecting the dots across the country that, I think, if we're looking forward to 2025, Chicago would be an area that we would look to establish and build. The key is you've got to have some people on the grounds, troops on the ground, that area that are willing, put in a little extra work during the course of the year to build an association and build a group of people that want to step forward. And nobody has time for this. Nobody in the drilling business has any time ever. So it's really a matter of prioritizing. You're not sacrificing anything. You're just prioritizing your business and your industry and the world that you work. And we all hope to leave it better than when we found it. And I think that's the right mindset. So, like I said, we're willing to go just about anywhere, but I think the Chicago area would be a fantastic location,

Brock

Which has a very strong geotechnical environmental drilling, for the third largest city in the country. I was just there a few weeks ago teaching students at the 150 Operators Union, and I think Chicago is great. Come on Second City, get it together! We need to get you in there. 

And as we go to all these events, I always hear, I just don't have the time. I can't afford to focus on that and my business and I don't know how we can't not afford to, as we look at what our value is, what we need to do. And the Godzilla PFAS that's coming stomping in, as we also have geothermal being King Kong, we're going to be dividing drillers again. And if there's less than 20,000 of us out there and we start thinking of the competent or highly experienced people that get into some of those crazy areas to drill, we need as many great new professionals and individuals that are still developing them, develop faster. I don't think there's a better place than the NDA right now.

Sam 

Couldn't agree more.

Brock 

Well, excellent. Thanks for your time today, Sam.

Sam

Thank you, Brock. I really appreciate it as always, man.

Conclusion

Thank you, Sam. Everybody get signed up. Get to Cleveland, Ohio on the 25th and 26th of September. It's going to be one heck of an event. I can't wait to see everybody there and continue to collaborate. We have lots of conferences across the country.

September is a great time to have a discussion, especially as we're running into October, November 5th is our election. There's lots that we need to talk about and there's lots that we as an industry need to stick together and make sure we're advocating for what's best for US. Check out thedriller.com. We’ve got great content covering the news you need. 

Thanks again, Sam. Everybody get to Cleveland, the 25th and 26th of September for the Drill Expo hosted by the NDA. Thanks everybody.