Marcellus Ethane Cracker in WV: Cautious Hope for Wood County on Ohio River

Will Brazil’s chemical giant locate a cracker plant in WV?

Editorial From Staff Reports, The Charleston Gazette – Mail, March 1, 2014

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Relentless decline of the Central Appalachian coal industry threatens more hardship for West Virginia’s southern counties. But northern counties are enjoying a bonanza as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing keep opening brighter prospects for Marcellus Shale gas.

Especially, the proposed $1 billion ethane “cracker” envisioned for the Ohio Valley just south of Parkersburg — plus adjoining polyethylene plants — is enticing. The complex would split heavier ethane from natural gas methane, then turn the ethane into polyethylene for use in a wide array of chemical manufacturing. A whole new chemical industry may be spun off.

Retired West Virginia University economist Tom Witt testified before the Legislature last week that the proposed Wood facility could create more than 2,000 good-paying permanent jobs and pour $2 billion a year into the region’s economy. [It is curious that these studies take no account of the environmental costs to the region. DN]

If his rosy forecast is accurate, it’s great news. But Dr. Witt raised several cautions:

First, although the Brazil-based Odebrecht firm purchased a Wood County site, its cracker project isn’t yet certain. Remember that Pennsylvania offered Royal Dutch Shell $1.65 billion in tax giveaways to build a cracker in the Keystone State — but the dream seems to have fizzled.

Second, development of the industrial complex will be slow. Around $150 million worth of pipelines must be laid to bring Marcellus gas to the cracker.

Third, most of West Virginia’s work force lacks high-tech skills needed to work in modern, robotic, computer-operated plants. However, if multitudes of Putnam County residents learned to work in the advanced Toyota engine factory, we assume that mid-Ohio Valley applicants can be taught cracker and polyethylene skills.

Here’s another big caution: The booming Marcellus and cracker industry must be policed intensely, to prevent pollution nightmares.

So far, the attitude from the governor down is the more drilling the better, with little regard for concerns of people living and working in the region. These aren’t theoretical concerns, but real worries about radioactivity in brine brought to the surface, where wastewater goes and what happens to people living and working near drilling sites.

West Virginia’s economy is in transition. Coal is descending while gas ascends. A different future is blowing in the wind. State Commerce Commissioner Keith Burdette called the proposed cracker “the largest single industrial project in the history of the state of West Virginia.” We hope his vision comes true, and that West Virginia leaders are wise enough to learn from past mistakes.

NOTE: Whether this proposed “cracker chemical plant” at $1 billion will be the largest single industrial project ever in WV is a matter of interpretation. The  700 megawatt Longview Power LLC coal fired electricity generating plant in Monongalia County had an overall cost of about $2 billion.  It is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy but hopes to emerge from that status later this year. DN.