Appalachia is Fueling a Global Petrochemical Buildout
Although the world is awash in plastics and other petrochemical products, the industry is planning for decades more growth. Much of the expansion could be driven by Appalachia.
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 […]
Poor Economics for Virgin Plastics: Petrochemicals Will Not Provide Sustainable Business Opportunities in Appalachia
A convergence of market forces casts a dark shadow over the financial outlook of petrochemical development in Appalachia.
FIDdlesticks: Why PTTGC can’t make up its mind
Don’t look now, but it’s late-June – season of the summer solstice and the now annual announcement by PTTGC that, despite previous assurances, it must yet again delay a final investment decision on the proposed ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio. Recall that in February an uproar arose when the Bangkok Post reported that PTTGC […]
The Future of the Ohio River Is in Sri Lanka
To see the future of the Ohio River you can look to a place that is almost its antipode: the tropical coastal waters of Sri Lanka. It’s there, some 9,000 miles away as the crow flies, that residents have recently discovered the scourge of pollution from the tiny resin pellets that are used to make plastic […]
Proposed Belmont County, OH ethane cracker project postponed . . . again
The Ohio River Valley Institute issued the following press release earlier today. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Newest delay for Belmont County cracker reinforces need for new economic development strategies JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania, February 18, 2021 – Today’s statement in the Bangkok Post by PTTGC chief executive Kongkrapan Intarajang saying the company will need more time to find […]
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 […]
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 […]
Top economists tell OH, PA, WV governors petrochemical boom is a non-starter
The following public letter concerning economic development, the petrochemical industry, and the need for more viable and sustainable strategies was sent to the governors of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania on June 15, 2020. See this background brief to learn more about the rationale and motivation for the letter. June 15, 2020 Dear Governors DeWine, […]
Background brief: A letter to the governors
On June 15, 2020 a group of seven prominent economists and policy analysts from leading universities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia and a former Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection, wrote a public letter to the governors of the three states warning them that economic development strategies based on a massive buildout of the region’s petrochemical […]