Investment Firm Threatens 2nd Lordstown Electric Plant, $30B @ Risk
Update: 7/19/17: An MDN subscriber with inside knowledge of what’s happening wrote to MDN to clarify our post. Magna Seating is the car seat manufacturer. They LOVE Clean Energy Future and both plants. In fact, Magna’s union shop chairman has said he will testify in favor of CEF’s second plant at the public hearing being held next Tuesday, July 25th. However, the landlord that owns the building Magna works in–Vienna Investments–is the one attempting to make trouble for CEF in building a second plant. Here’s the kicker: Vienna knew about CEF’s plans for the second plant BEFORE they bought the building Magna works in. Stands to reason if Vienna had an objection, they might have expressed it when they bought the building–or would not have purchased it in the first place. Which makes us wonder, what game is Vienna playing? Why are they objecting now?
Last June, Clean Energy Future broke ground on the Lordstown (Trumbull County, OH) Energy Center, a Utica Shale-powered electric generating plant that is projected to contribute nearly $1 billion to the local economy (see Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant). Clean Energy Future has also committed to building a second billion-dollar plant at the same location (see Lordstown, OH May Get Second Utica Gas-Powered Electric Plant). According to local economic officials, the two plants, over the next 30 years, will contribute a staggering (incomprehensible!) $60 BILLION to the local economy. We simply don’t have words for this kind of econ benefit for a community like Lordstown and Trumbull County. So it’s understandable that the action of a neighbor in the same industrial park where the plants will get built–a neighbor that manufactures car seats for Chevrolets–is threatening to undo half of that economic benefit by filing to “intervene” in the project with the Ohio Siting Board, regarding the second proposed Utica Shale-powered electric plant. It seems Vienna Investments, which owns the car seat manufacturing plant, is concerned about unspecified “safety” issues with construction of the second plant. Local officials, and the editorial board of Youngstown Vindicator, are somewhat alarmed and “encouraging” (pressuring) Vienna to come clean now about what they’re really concerned about, so it can be addressed and not derail the second plant (and $30 billion worth of income for the region)…
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It seems the northern panhandle area of West Virginia is sitting in the catbird seat. The geography of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties sits in between Shell’s ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA on one side, and the proposed PTT Global Chemical cracker plant in Belmont County, OH on the other side. The PTT plant is not yet official, but is certainly looking that way. The next “gold rush” for states including PA, OH and WV are manufacturing plants that use the output from the cracker plants. And the northern panhandle, being between both locations, is getting a lot of interest and attention…
Recently Broome County (NY) Executive Jason Garner sounded the alarm about county finances. He compared Broome County’s economic situation to the Titanic. The New York State Comptroller’s office issued a report in September 2016 that said Broome County has been in fiscal stress over the past three years. Thank you Gov. Cuomo for banning fracking–the one thing that could have pulled us out of the hole. With all of the bad news, you would think Broome County would be a cheerleader for a proposed “virtual pipeline” project from NG Advantage, planned for the Town of Fenton in a Binghamton suburb. In fact, Fenton approved the project (after a detailed review), and construction began in June (see 
The lack of a quorum (enough voting members) for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is has gone beyond amusing and angering–it’s now critical. Early in the new Trump presidency we noted the curious behavior of liberal Democrats, who are also virulent anti-drillers, in their hammering of Trump over lack of nominating people to FERC (see 
A new study from ICF International (commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute) reveals some truly mind-blowing numbers. The natural gas supply chain–those companies involved in providing goods and services to the industry–generated $550 billion in economic activity in 2015. More than half a trillion dollars! That’s almost 3% of the country’s GDP. From a single industry. Staggering. Equally staggering: Because we are finding and extracting natgas here at home, American consumers will have saved more than $100 billion on the cost of natural gas by 2040. That’s a private (non-governmental) $100 billion invested in our economy over the next 25 years. The 268-page study, titled “Benefits and Opportunities of Natural Gas Use, Transportation, and Production” (full copy below) projects total employment related to the natgas industry will reach 5.9 million people by 2040. Can you even begin to wrap you brain around this?! The report contains information and data for how natgas benefits EACH of the 50 states. This is a professional study by a professional firm, not just rah rah unsupported pablum like you get from radical environmentalists. These are real numbers you can believe. Frankly, the numbers tell one of the most incredible stories of the 21st century…
Nearly five years ago, in July 2012, then-PA Gov. Tom Corbett announced that some of the Sunoco Marcus Hook Refinery assets had been purchased by Braskem America (see 
In March of this year, the Team Pennsylvania Foundation released a report called “Prospects to Enhance Pennsylvania’s Opportunities in Petrochemical Manufacturing” (see 
The TriState Infrastructure Council (TSIC) was founded in Pittsburgh in late 2016 to “serve a broad-based business community during the critical next few years by attracting and deploying investments in infrastructure projects in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.” With infrastructure upgrades, the region will be able to realize economic growth resulting from petrochemical manufacturing and related industries in the Appalachian basin. One of the driving forces behind TSIC is a name you are likely familiar with: Kathryn Klaber. Katie Klaber founded and until a few years ago led the Marcellus Shale Coalition. She opted to focus on her consulting practice following the MSC and is now managing the TSIC. The TSIC organization was founded with a group of A-list companies located in the region. At this week’s Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction conference in Pittsburgh, Katie unveiled an exciting new project to map infrastructure in an 82-county region throughout the Ohio River Valley. The aim is to identify missing/key/critical infrastructure components and then work to set up public-private partnerships to get those components built. The TSIC is looking at “electric transmission and distribution, pipelines, natural gas and natural gas liquid storage capacity, reliable locks and dams, rail networks, roads and bridges, water and sewer, building sites, barge loading/unloading facilities, broadband, fiber optics, and air service, among others.” And yes, the Marcellus/Utica shale is the linchpin that holds it all together–makes it all possible–and the raison d’être for the TSIC. Here’s more on the new infrastructure database, the TSIC, and how they are giving the shale industry a big assist…
In reading a fascinating story about European chemical plant giant Ineos, the article took an unexpected turn when it said Ineos, indeed all of Europe’s petrochemical industry, is “vulnerable as never before because of the shale oil and gas boom in the US, which has made energy costs there just a fraction of those in Europe.” The article specifically names and credits the Marcellus with producing feedstock that is far cheaper than can be found in Europe–and chemical plants are now choosing to relocate and manufacture their products in the U.S. rather than Europe. The inescapable conclusion: if the United Kingdom (and Europe) refuses to frack, they’re hosed. Ineos, which has figured this out, has “quietly” purchased “some interesting onshore fracking licences” in the UK, and they intend to use them…
Something truly amazing is happening in rural Susquehanna County, PA, nestled in the northeastern corner of the state (shares a border with Broome County, NY, where MDN is located). At a special event yesterday held in Montrose, the county seat, Cabot Oil & Gas announced a major milestone. Cabot has, over the past ten years, paid out $1 billion in royalties and another $500 million in lease bonuses. Did you catch that? In a single decade, Susquehanna County has received a $1.5 BILLION economic stimulus in private money flooding into the county–from just one of the major drillers working in the county. And that doesn’t include $3.1 billion spent on equipment and crews to do the drilling (a number we verified with Cabot)! There are other companies drilling in Susquehanna County as well. In very real, practical terms, that means school taxes have not gone up–in years. Property taxes have actually gone DOWN. Mortgages have been paid off. Kids have gone to college–without incurring years of debt hanging over them when they graduate. Story after story was shared of how Cabot’s drilling program has resulted in radically changed (for the better) lives in Susquehanna County. Cabot has pulled some 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas out of what Cabot rep George Stark says is “the sweetest spot to be” in the country. Little known factoid: A single company (Cabot) drilling in one county (Susquehanna) produces nearly 3% of the entire natural gas output in the United States. Amazing! You know what’s even more amazing? Binghamton media blocked all reporting about this major news….
PennEast Pipeline has just released a list of 11 non-profit organizations receiving grants of “up to” $5,000 from the pipeline company. It’s not the first time (
A comprehensive study by Cleveland State University researchers shows just how mind-blowing the economic investment in Ohio has been from the Utica Shale. The just-published study, titled “Shale Investment Dashboard in Ohio” (full copy below), finds that between upstream ($39 billion), midstream ($8 billion) and downstream ($3 billion), all related to the Utica Shale, there has been an incredible $50 billion invested in Ohio since Utica drilling began in 2011. It’s really hard to overstate just how big a deal this is. Can you image a $50 billion economic stimulus from the government? No way! It would never happen. And if it did, the money would come out of YOUR pocket–from taxpayers. But this $50 billion ALL came from the private sector. Good ole capitalism. Free enterprise. Private ownership. Private property. Love it! It’s what our great country was built on. Let’s dig into the numbers and relish this fantastic news…