COLUMNS

Ohio must keep investing in its energy future

Bob McEwen

For those keeping score at home, Ohio has steadily made itself an important player in the “Industrial Midwest” by investing in its natural resources, generating increasing economic activity while protecting our state’s environment.

Energy is one of those rare industries that delivers a wide breadth of benefits to commercial consumers, residential households, and beyond.

Over the last couple of decades, the Buckeye State has undergone a remarkable change by tapping into the vast natural gas resources of the Marcellus and Utica shale reserves we Ohioans share with Pennsylvania. Industry is growing and residents are receiving the bulk of the benefits.

The Consumer Energy Alliance has found that residential and commercial consumers have saved more than $40 billion in energy costs in one decade alone. New and more efficient production technologies have afforded most of these savings, driving prices of natural gas from $10 highs to just under $4, according to one study.

Natural gas has also been a big driver in emissions reductions over the last 10 years, reducing national CO2 emissions by 14.5% and reducing Ohio’s carbon dioxide footprint by 23%.

More affordable and competitive natural gas has likewise been an important development in the state because of the peripheral opportunities it opens up, especially by bringing new business and jobs. A good example would be PTT Global Chemical’s (PTTGC) Mead Township cracker plant, which is still in the early planning stages but has officially identified a potential build site.

Proposed to be built along the west bank of the Ohio River, the plant would have strategic access to highways, pipelines, rail stations, and port infrastructure that could effectively make it a hub for the region at large. A long-term cracker plant project would also be a huge capital investment – the largest economic development project in the state’s history, in fact – and thus a job creator.

Jobs at the prospective Mead Township plant would include high paying positions like chemical engineers, chemists, and lab technicians. It also seems reasonable to assume that construction would be completed by Ohio’s many skilled trades unions that rely on long-term projects like this. Moreover, our trades guild neighbors in the Commonwealth have already praised the role petrochemical plants like a cracker play in delivering jobs to communities.

Cracker plants fulfill a unique role in the energy industry and serve what may be the most critical but less glamorous function. These types of plants refine and process natural gas into distillates that can be used for a variety of purposes. PTTGC’s plant, for example, intends to break down ethane into ethylene at a clip up to 1.5 metric tons annually. These distillates are key to manufacturing plastics and a whole host of household goods that many of us take for granted.

Some may have heard of Pennsylvania’s Braskem cracker plant which was in the news recently for its role in upping production of materials like polypropylene and ethylene. These components are critical to keep personal protective equipment supply chains stocked with the feedstock materials needed to make masks and hand sanitizer to fight the novel coronavirus. Ohioans can join the fight long term by having a cracker plant of its own.

Ohio deserves to double down on its strengths and should find more ways to maximize the energy boon our state is currently experiencing. PTTGC’s proposed cracker plant is but one example of the types of long-term investments that opens doors for more opportunities.

With an abundance of natural resources, armies of skilled craftsmen constructing the infrastructure necessary to seize the moment, and an ever-growing marketplace for natural gas distillates, Ohio can replace the old Rust Belt economy with a growing one that maximizes the region’s resources available now.

Former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen, a Republican, represented southern Ohio in the Congress for six terms.