FOLLANSBEE PROJECTS ~ Ohio River Barging & Solid Waste Pyrolysis w/ Frack Gas?

Future of Follansbee: River port plans could spark Wheeling-area

From an Article by Autumn Shelton, WV News, April 17, 2022

FOLLANSBEE, W.Va. (WV News) — Officials with Empire Diversified Energy have plans to make the Port of West Virginia one of the largest inland ports in America as they create a trimodal distribution hub that may boost the state’s economy and ease the nation’s supply chain shortage.

The roughly 80-acre port, with 8,000 feet of riverfront access, is located along the Ohio River in the City of Follansbee, a small community in Brooke County that has experienced the devastating effects of industry closures and job loss.

According to Empire’s CEO Frank Rosso along with Empire President Scott Ewusiak and Port Director Joe DiBartolomeo, the company and its subsidiaries plan a “full transformation of the waterfront” and estimate it will bring at least 400 full-time jobs back for area residents.

“For the last 100 years, [Follansbee] has been very industrialized. You’ve seen smokestacks, flare stacks and pollution,” Rosso said, noting that is now going to change. “Our projects are green in nature and promote regional sustainability.”

“We are hiring people every week,” Ewusiak added. “It’s nice that we are going into different avenues to keep people living in the area.”

DiBartolomeo shared the same sentiment. “Population in the panhandle has severely declined. With new industries, we can stabilize the population and expand it. Of course, that is going to take time, but there is a future here now.”

With the recent purchase of the former Koppers facility, they expanded the site to nearly 1,000 acres and acquired a location for material storage, including the potential to store petrochemicals and petroleum. The property also contains 20,000 feet of rail spur lines that directly connect to Norfolk Southern Railway and the site has easy access to major roadways.

The port currently has a 50-barge capacity, DiBartolomeo said. However, plans to secure the riverbank by building a sheet pile wall will give them the ability to build 37 barge berths, increasing barge capacity to 111.

Coke, coal, aggregates and metal storage and shipping is already occurring, but the next phase of growth includes shipping bulk and break bulk containers.

“Container-on-barge service is something we are highly focused on and it’s never been done in the United States,” Rosso said. “It’s been done around the world, but never in the United States. We are planning on moving material and goods from southern coastal ports up the Mississippi to the Ohio River and, in the future, distribute to the midwest from the Port of West Virginia. That’s our game plan here.”

The company is also entering the solid and medical waste recycling business by using pyrolysis, which Rosso said is a new technology that creates minimal to no emissions.

“The plant does not create any form of potential pollutants by sending them into the air because they are not incinerated, and there is no water run-off to contaminate the river,” Rosso explained. “If it was, we wouldn’t be bringing this to Follansbee.”

Another plan, according to Ewusiak, is turning the energy generated by pyrolysis into a daily 1.5 megawatt supply of electricity to help run the facility, making it as carbon-neutral as possible.

To date, Empire has invested $75 million into site development with plans to invest another $125 million in the next 12 months, Rosso noted.

Although the company has the ability to grow independently, Rosso added that officials have reached out to the state for financial support as a way to spur faster growth.

“We have made a commitment to the people of the panhandle and to the state of West Virginia. So, we are just hoping and keeping our fingers crossed that the state makes a decision to help us out here.”

West Virginia Department of Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael noted in a statement to The State Journal that his department will work with Empire’s leadership “to determine appropriate and prudent ways to support” site development. Larry Rea, Police and Fire Chief for the City of Follansbee, said he would go as far as to say that the port “is the future of Follansbee.”

Follansbee City Manager Jack McIntosh said they are “extremely excited” to witness the growth that is taking place,” adding that, “It gives a glimmer of hope” with the recent closure of Mountain State Carbon.