by Ben Hunkler | Nov 23, 2021 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
Four years ago, petrochemical industry boosters predicted a new wave of industry would roll across the natural gas-producing region of Appalachia, spurring billions of dollars in capital investments and a veritable economic renaissance in a place that sorely needed...
by Sean O'Leary | Nov 19, 2021 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
January 25, 2022 may become the day the music died for a number of the remaining Appalachian coal-fired power plants. That’s when PJM, the regional transmission operator (RTO) that manages wholesale energy markets in all or parts of 13 mid-Atlantic and midwestern...
by Sean O'Leary | Nov 16, 2021 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
I’m old. And for nigh on to fifty years I have been listening to politicians and oil and gas executives soberly invoke “energy independence” as a a noble goal that is necessary to preserve our freedom and way of life. Starting in the 1970s, a decade...
by Ben Hunkler | Oct 15, 2021 | Blog Posts, Natural Gas
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro charged Mariner East 2 Pipeline owner Energy Transfer with a total of 48 counts of environmental crimes last Tuesday in a landmark crackdown that reflects Pennsylvania voters’ overwhelming concern about the impacts of...
by Ben Hunkler | Oct 7, 2021 | Blog Posts, Hydrogen & Carbon Capture
New Ohio River Valley Institute research finds that the broad-scale adoption of carbon capture, use, and sequestration (CCUS) would come with a price tag upwards of $100 billion dollars per year. A bevy of proposed legislation in Congress would hoist that bill on...
by Sean O'Leary | Oct 7, 2021 | Blog Posts, Hydrogen & Carbon Capture
With a price tag of $100 billion/year, widespread adoption of CCUS in the electric system would spark outrage if its cost showed up in our monthly electric bills. But members of Congress, including some climate hawks, seem to be coalescing around legislation that...
by Ben Hunkler | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog Posts, Clean Energy, Fair Democracy, Shared Prosperity
The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) launched one year ago, in August 2020, as an independent, nonprofit think tank designed to equip the region’s residents and decision-makers with the policy research and practical tools they need to advance long-term solutions to...
by Ben Hunkler | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog Posts, Newsletter
ORVI Insider: Our First Year in Review The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) launched one year ago, in August 2020, as an independent, nonprofit think tank designed to equip the region’s residents and decision-makers with the policy research and...
by Sean O'Leary | Aug 27, 2021 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
According to a recent report from S&P Global/Platts, “PTTGC America’s final investment decision on a new petrochemical complex in southeast Ohio remains on indefinite hold until the company secures a new partner in the project, the company said in an email...
by Ben Hunkler | Aug 27, 2021 | Blog Posts, Natural Gas, Petrochemicals & Plastics
More than one hundred environmental and community advocates described the devastating threats to public health and safety posed by petrochemical development in Appalachia and the Gulf South during a public hearing organized by the Department of Energy’s Office of...
