Building on What We Have

A mechanic investigates under the hood of a car.

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]This is the first blog in a series of local economic development initiatives strengthening local economies and anchoring investment in Appalachian Communities of Ohio, […]

Pennsylvanians Strongly Support a Crackdown on Fracking. Will Allegheny County Deliver?

A black & white photo of a fracking drill rig at the edge of a soybean field.

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]Update: In a resounding victory for Pennsylvanians and a vindication of public will, Allegheny County Council voted 12-3 to override County Executive Rich Fitzgerald’s veto, codifying the […]

RECOMPETE Act Offers Support for Realizing ReImagined Appalachian Communities

  Last year, ReImagine Appalachia published an overview of Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) funding since 1965. We highlighted that non-highway funding for ARC has declined about $650 million annually since the late 1970s and early 1980s—when parts of the ARC region, including PA-OH-WV and KY, lost big parts of their traditional economic base in extractive […]

What A Pennsylvania Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Hub Would Cost

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]Finally, a reporter has asked a question that should have been asked from the beginning about the proposed Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Hub for […]

Charting a Course for Appalachia’s Economic Transition

For generations, Appalachia has powered the nation’s industrial growth with our region’s  bountiful reserves of coal, gas, and oil. Today, our communities are suffering the effects of that legacy of extraction—air and water pollution, rampant greenhouse gas emissions, and local economies hollowed out by an industry structurally incapable of generating job growth and prosperity.   For […]

Why Worry About the Future of the Plastics Industry? Public Opinion.

The plastics industry is facing a triple threat. Product bans, public opinion, and corporate pledges all conspire to curtail future profits and undercut expansion plans. This trio helps explain why the ballyhooed petrochemical buildout in Appalachia has never materialized and why communities would be unwise to pin their hopes on future development plans that aim […]

Why Worry About the Future of the Plastics Industry? Bans.

Last week, Ohio lieutenant governor John Husted spoke the unvarnished truth about the Ohio Valley’s long planned petrochemicals buildout. Responding to news about the perennially delayed project in Belmont County, he said, “The industry itself is not growing. So, it’s hard to build new facilities when consumer demand and corporate policies are changing around plastics.” […]

Maximizing Impact of Federal Orphaned Well Program in States

Earlier this month, we provided an explainer of the $4.7 billion federal orphaned well program that was included in the federal infrastructure legislation (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021) and what that meant for states in the Ohio River Valley. To recap, the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia could receive […]

The Ohio River Valley Hydrogen Hub: A Boondoggle in the Making

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) torpedoed the Build Back Better bill because, he said, it is too costly. But the fleet of hydrogen hub projects he is now promoting for locations around the nation, one of them in the Ohio River Valley, may cost nearly as much, they will drive up utility bills and create few […]