“Chemical Plant Coming to Valley” was the headline, and the sub-head read, “Wyandotte Buys Site For Plant.”
Beneath that, a second sub-head states, “200-Acre Dilles Bottom Tract Is Purchased; Building Assured.”
That was on Feb. 18, 1949, in The Wheeling Intelligencer, and there still is not a gas plant in Dilles Bottom constructed by the Wyandotte Chemical Corporation or by PTT Global America. According to the minimal amount of information found online about Wyandotte Chemical, the Michigan-based company supplied natural gas to customers in multiple states and ended up in the Kansas Supreme Court over the price per unit charged in Kansas City and Rosedale, Kan.
Wyandotte lost the case to the state of Kansas.
“When I first saw that headline, I was speechless because I had no idea,” explained Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton. “I had no idea because it’s never come up in any of the conversations that we have had about that land and its future development. Obviously, we all know that the Burger Power Plant was there for a lot of years, but I didn’t know that a gas plant was planned for that area more than 70 years ago.”
Only A Few Homes Remain
PTT Global America announced its intentions to construct a $10 billion petrochemical “cracker” plant in Dilles Bottom more than five years ago, and Dutton and fellow commissioners still are waiting for the Thailand-based corporation’s final investment announcement. Daelim, a construction and chemical firm located in South Korea, dissolved its partnership with PTT this month, but PTT partnered last week with Mountaineer NGL Storage in Monroe County for storage of natural gas.
“The Mountaineer project has some history, too, because of what it takes to develop such a facility,” Dutton said. “But those folks now have all of the permits that they need, and they are prepared to move forward, and PTT has all of the permits in hand if they decide to move forward, too.
“There was a lot of talk that there would be a partnership, but when Daelim decided they needed to pull out, I know a lot of local residents had their doubts that anything was going to take place at Dillies Bottom, but in the most recent talks we have had with their representatives, we were told that building the cracker plant is their intention and that a final decision is coming. Why else would they enter into this partnership with Mountaineer?”
Dutton remains optimistic despite the coronavirus pandemic, and that is because constructing such a facility simply makes sense.
“We have seen a decrease in activity in Belmont County connected to gas and oil industries because of COVID-19, but mostly because we didn’t have much of a winter here or throughout the northeast, and that had a negative impact on the price of natural gas on the open market,” the commissioner explained. “If those companies don’t need the gas or oil, they aren’t going to go after more because they still have plenty in storage.
“I know some people really don’t like the cold weather, and that’s understandable, but we need a real winter if we’re going to have that economic impact those employees going to our gas stations, eating at our restaurants, and shopping at our retail and grocery stores,” Dutton continued. “It’s not the first time the price of natural gas has led to that decreased activity, so I think we’re learning how those industries work.”
The Perfect Place
It’s flat. There’s a highway. The railroad runs right by. And yes, there’s the Ohio River.
Those four factors prove to be amenities when it comes to a $10 billion petrochemical plant.
The site is just too good for development not to take place
“When I first took office in January 2017, one of the things that surprised me the most about this project was when state officials told me that this site is the best one along the Ohio River that the state of Ohio has had to advertise for this kind of development,” he continued. “That was before all of the earthwork that has been done over the past 12 months, so, in my opinion, I think that says a lot about the future of economic development in that area of Belmont County.”
“I know this decision has taken a while, but another reason to be optimistic, in my opinion, is the amount of work that has been performed in the Dilles Bottom area,” Dutton said. “Plus, PTT has come to terms with the majority of homeowners in that area. There are only a few left.”
But still, a final investment decision has not announced so Dutton and his commission colleagues, Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine, and residents on both side of the river continue to wait for the word.
“This project really became very complicated beginning in March, and it was already a complicated project,” Dutton said. “And, if you think about it, if they were wavering on it, the pandemic gave them the perfect excuse to pull out, and they haven’t. They’ve done the exact opposite by continuing to develop their partnership with Mountaineer.
“They remain very committed to the project despite COVID-19, so that is why I remain confident,” he added. “If their demeanor when communicating with us had changed, then I might think that they were having second thoughts, but that’s not been the case. If they weren’t going to move forward, I think we would have noticed some sort of change.”
