One of the arguments often used to incite opposition to pipelines is “all of the pain, none of the gain”–as in landowners and other members of the community must put up with pipeline construction for a short period of time, and then live with a pipeline in the ground for decades, without seeing any real benefit. Except that argument is patently not true. Take the ET Rover pipeline project, for example. ET Rover is a 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will serve mostly U.S. customers and will cost $3.7 billion to build and run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. Some 570 of the 711 miles of ET Rover will run through the state of Ohio. How do Ohioans benefit? First, the pipeline will generate $91 million in tax revenues for local schools–in it’s first year (see For the Children: ET Rover Pipeline $91M in School Taxes 1st Year). Second, it will mean cheaper natural gas all along the pipeline’s route. Third, Energy Transfer, the company building Rover, is investing a staggering $3.7 billion to build it. Do you know the kind of economic ripples that makes throughout an economy? For example, ET just announced a list of seven Ohio companies they are set and ready to spend $85 million with to help build the pipeline. Below is a list of those companies and the products/services they will provide to ET Rover. A few million dollars here and a few million dollars there adds up to company expansions, new jobs, more tax revenue for local communities–the good times just keep on a rollin’ thanks to a pipeline that “doesn’t benefit anyone” except a vile, nasty fossil fuel company…
