ORVI testifies in support of Pennsylvania joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
Reduced emissions, lower utility bills, and economic development for small-town Pennsylvania ORVI testimony before the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (On December 11, 2020, ORVI senior researcher, Sean O’Leary, testified before the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board in support of the Commonwealth’s proposed membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Here is the text of those remarks.) […]
What would joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative mean for Pennsylvania?
JOBS, SAVINGS, AND HEALTHIER FAMILIES The funny thing about opponents of Pennsylvania’s proposed membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is that the terrible things they say will happen if Pennsylvania joins RGGI are exactly the things that will happen if the Commonwealth doesn’t become a member. Without RGGI: Pennsylvanians’ electric bills will go […]
Trump wants to order an economic impact study for fracking. He won’t like the results.
Tim Puko of the Wall Street Journal recently reported that President Trump is weighing an executive order to study the economic impacts of fracking. The order, if issued less than a week before election day, will be a transparent attempt to contrast the president’s boosterism of fossil fuels with former Vice President Joe Biden’s announced […]
Renewable Energy: The New Texas Tea
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia should try it instead of throwing up barriers In 2009, Texas was the nation’s biggest consumer of coal for the generation of electricity. By 2019 Texas had cut its consumption of coal by a third and replaced it with . . . If you expect the next words to be […]
Quality of Life-driven prosperity for small cities and towns
Earlier this year, the Belomar Regional Council, an economic planning and development council comprised of governments in Belmont County Ohio, and Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties in West Virginia, submitted an updated Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to the US Economic Development Administration. It contained this SWOT chart. The only opportunity for economic development identified in […]
Three new barriers to Appalachian petrochemical expansion
How Saudi Arabia may cripple the US fracking boom and the Appalachian petrochemical buildout along with it It’s hard to conceive of a worse scenario for the nascent Appalachian petrochemical industry than a world in which the price of oil is chronically low, competition from more efficient producers of ethylene is increasing, and growth in […]
Energy Independent? Not even close
The fate of Appalachia’s natural gas and petrochemical boom depends on despotic regimes, foreign companies we’ve never heard of, and OPEC In a recent speech to an oil and gas conference, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis joined many in his industry, wrapping themselves in the flag, declaring American oil and gas a force for “energy […]
Lies, damned lies, and economic impact studies
Why the economic impacts of an Appalachian petrochemical buildout won’t meet expectations A 2017 economic impact study from the American Chemistry Council paints a glowing picture of jobs growth and economic development accompanying a buildout of petrochemical facilities in Appalachia. But, we’ve been here before. We were told the same thing about the Appalachian natural […]
Game Unchanged . . . But, Not Unchangeable
How the greater Ohio Valley can awaken from its natural gas and petrochemical fever dream to an economic future that actually delivers jobs and prosperity “Game-changer” – It’s amazing the word doesn’t stick in their throats. For a decade, policymakers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have been calling the natural gas fracking boom and, […]
Nick DeIuliis’ 9 Irrefutable Energy Truths Refuted
CNX Resources Corporation CEO, Nick DeIuliis, is a veritable rock star proponent of what he calls “the natural gas economy”. Videos of his speeches are widely shared within the Appalachian natural gas and petrochemical communities, he is frequently sought out for commentary by reporters, and he is generally regarded as one of the most articulate and […]