Why Data Centers Will Be Economic Development Duds
Data centers are highly capital intensive, non-labor intensive enterprises that create few jobs & inject little money into host communities.
Frackalachia Update 2025
New gas development for data centers and LNG is “destined to disappoint” as Appalachia’s fracking counties continue their economic spiral.
Report: New Gas Development for LNG, Data Centers “Destined to Disappoint”
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —— The race to expand Appalachian natural gas production in anticipation of new power demand for AI data centers and increased export capacity of liquified natural gas (LNG) is unlikely to generate long-term job growth or local prosperity, according to a new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute. “For over a decade, […]
Data centers are driving pipeline expansions and production growth in Appalachia
Appalachian gas production has been hamstrung by a slowdown in pipeline construction; data center demand could change that. A planned buildout of new, AI-specialized data centers could unlock enough energy demand across the eastern half of the US to drive up Appalachian gas production and spur expansion of the pipelines to transport it. Appalachian gas […]
Misleading and Just Plain Wrong
The central claim of the Heritage Foundation’s special report that, because of New York’s ban on fracking, counties in the Marcellus region “lost out on around $11,000 per resident or $27,000 per household” is simply wrong. Why? Because . . . Very little of the money invested in or earned by fracking ever lands […]
A Month from Hell
Key Points Northern Appalachia has, for a decade and a half, premised its economic development strategies on a strategic triad of natural gas, petrochemicals, and most recently hydrogen. Natural gas expansion has proven itself incapable of delivering on promises of jobs and economic prosperity. Meanwhile petrochemicals and hydrogen don’t seem capable of getting off the […]
What could Trump’s expanded LNG exports mean for consumer prices, Appalachian gas production, and local economies?
Joanne Kilgour: Today’s discussion comes on the heels of an executive order signed by President Trump reversing the Biden administration’s pause on pending and future applications for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. We’ve gathered a panel of experts today to help us unpack what this new political landscape might mean for consumers and local […]
What does Appalachia have to do with LNG?
The Biden administration’s pause on new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits is over. On February 14, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued an order conditionally granting Commonwealth LNG to export liquefied natural gas from its proposed terminal near Cameron, Louisiana. So now the LNG buildout is steamrolling ahead, emboldened by the Trump administration’s vow […]
Meeting Unrealistic PJM Demand Forecasts with New Gas Generation Could Cause Utility Bills to Spike by 62%
Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly support stricter regulations on fracking
Nine in ten Pennsylvania voters support stricter regulations on the fracking industry, new polling shows.