Petrochemicals & Plastics
Schemes to produce plastics from fracked gas have largely failed in Appalachia.
Petrochemical development hasn’t generated economic prosperity in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, research shows, and market headwinds make new buildout unlikely. Learn more about the Ohio River Valley Institute’s research on the petrochemicals industry below.
Photo: Shell’s petrochemicals complex in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Mark Dixon, 2022
“Years ago, the oil and gas industry predicted petrochemical development would sweep across Appalachia, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
Those plans largely fizzled.”
Reports:
All research on Petrochemicals & Plastics:
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...
Why Worry About the Future of the Plastics Industry? Bans.
Last week, Ohio lieutenant governor John Husted spoke the unvarnished truth about the Ohio Valley’s long planned petrochemicals buildout. Responding to news about the perennially delayed project in Belmont County, he said, "The industry itself is not growing. So, it's...
A Cautionary Tale of Petrochemicals from Pennsylvania
Beaver County, Pennsylvania has fallen behind the state and the nation in nearly every measure of economic activity since the Shell petrochemicals complex was announced in 2012, data show.
Why the Fracked Gas to Plastics Pipeline Has No Future in the Ohio River Valley
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...
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.
PTTGCA’s “indefinite delay” reminds Ohio Valley leaders of the need for a viable economic development strategy
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 Aug....
Community groups urge U.S. Department of Energy to halt gas, ethane development
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...
How the Department of Energy Can Help Mitigate Economic and Environmental Damage from Petrochemical Development and Fracking
Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary explained the damaging effects of shale gas activity and prospective petrochemical development on the environment, residents’ wellbeing, and local economic growth in a public-facing presentation for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office...
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...