It’s a question that’s been asked ad nauseum since the proposed project was announced in the Summer of 2015, and the answer to the inquiry has been dependent on whose been asked.
Will a cracker plant ever be built in Belmont County?
Local residents on both side of the Ohio River have grown doubtful now that it’s been nearly a decade of speculation, but labor and government officials have remained patient – and even optimistic – as far as the possibility that a $15 billion petrochemical plant could be built on more than 600 acres of shoreline in the Dilles Bottom area of Belmont County. Most recently, a company spokesman confirmed that PTT executives are currently searching for a financial partner for the build out.
“The interest in the project has always been there, but there have been obstacles like the economy and COVID. The company was only a couple of weeks away from announcing the project’s start date when the pandemic started out of nowhere (in March 2020),” recalled Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton. “People can say whatever they want about the cracker project and why they think it hasn’t happened yet, but I can tell you that PTT Global is still very interested in the project here in Belmont County.
“Great developments take place on property like what PTT owns along the Ohio River, and they’ve paid the property taxes on that land every year,” he explained. “We know the people at PTT are looking for a new partner for the project, so we’re hopeful their search is successful soon so something can get started in that area of Belmont County.”
Since the announcement in 2015, PTTGA has worked with state and county officials on infrastructure upgrades near the shoreline property, and the Thai corporation also has purchased the properties – commercial and residential – that is needed for the facility. A little more than half of the land in the area once was home to First Energy’s Burger Power Plant.
“There are several sites along the Ohio River with a lot of potential, and the land owned by PTTGA is one of those sites that could help our country do what it needs to do as far as energy production,” Dutton said. “Plus, with the natural gas industry, you see manufacturing follow in a lot of cases and we’re starting to see some of that up north in Beaver County.
“Those sites have road, rail, and the river, and that’s exactly what industry needs,” he said. “I know people are hoping to see something happen in Dilles Bottom, but PTT owns the land and there’s no way the county could purchase it even if we wanted to. That’s a lot of acreage and the cracker project is still a very active project.”
At the time the gas, oil, and pipeline industries arrived to several communities along the Ohio River more than 15 years ago, local gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and property owners experienced a tremendous economic impact for a number of years. Once most of the well pads were established and pipelines were constructed and connected, however, the economic surge settle into what Dutton describes as “steady.”
“At one point, we were talking about a five-year construction process so that would be a lot of men and women coming to Belmont County to go to work,” Dutton said. “Those folks would be eating, buying gas, staying in hotels, going to sores, and things like that. Those dollars add up and the county would benefit from all of the sales tax from those transactions, and there would be a significant impact from the build-out of the plant, too.
“When the industries first came here, our businesses realized that impact, and then they did again when the pipeline companies moved in,” he said. “If and when this project moves forward, we would see thousands of people move in again, and the economic impact would very significant, that’s for sure.”
Drill Baby Drill?
According to records compiled by the state of Ohio, more than 1,500 well pads have been established in Belmont County since 1985, and the bulk of the drilling has taken place since 2010.
Dutton expected the development to continue in the future, but the county commission does not expect a significant increase in activity because of the change in the White House.
“It has slowed down a little bit because of demand for natural gas was down because of weather, but it’s been steady for the past several years. It’ll never be like it was in the beginning, but overall, it’s been very steady,” Dutton explained. “What has stopped is the build-out with local and (multi-state) pipelines and that means we have stranded natural gas.
“There’s still work that needs to be done,” the commissioner said. “We have more natural gas here locally than we can utilize in this region, and that’s why we hope to see that build-out get restarted in the future because energy is an important issue in this region and in this country.”
President Donald Trump’s new approach to domestically produced energy does have Dutton encouraged abotu the next four years.
“I believe the Administration’s strategy is to unleash American energy so we are independent here and able to send our energy overseas. That’s the best scenario for our country,” Dutton said. “If we start exporting our natural gas on the national market, it could be to this area because this is where the gas is and we have plenty of it.
“The majority of Americans voted for this Administration and it’s policies, and this is the approach we heard about during the campaign,” he said. “Our grid needs addressed before there’s a collapse and people are harmed by weather or anything else. We’ve seen bad situations in some states as far as their grid is concerned, and it’s time to take a hard look and make the improvements and additions that are overdue.”
