“Pennsylvania is once again open for business.” That’s how Washington County Chamber of Commerce president Jeff Kotula described construction of the $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 pipelines that will deliver natural gas from southwestern Pennsylvania to Delaware County’s Marcus Hook petrochemical and refining facility.

The buildout of critical natural gas infrastructure projects such as pipelines, power plants and Shell’s ethane cracker will deliver additional benefits directly to communities while making the Commonwealth more competitive. Natural gas creates jobs, drives innovation, lowers energy bills for consumers, and spurs manufacturing growth.

“If we get the economic equation right, manufacturing has the potential to be an even greater engine for job growth as more companies are attracted to the commonwealth by affordable, abundant natural gas,” the MSC’s Dave Spigelmyer told the Tribune-Review.

With such opportunities in hand, this is no time to make Pa. less competitive by enacting additional job-crushing energy taxes and costly regulations, Spigelmyer told the New Castle News. “Make no mistake, even higher energy taxes jeopardize these local economic benefits and good-paying Pennsylvania jobs.”

That’s why labor, business, and economic development groups support moving Pennsylvania forward with more development around clean natural gas.

Here’s what they’re saying:

  • Top Labor Leader: “Let’s Get Started on the Mariner 2 East Pipeline”: The 350-mile pipeline is a nearly $4.2 billion investment into Pa.’s economy and a tremendous benefit for the thousands of lives it will impact along its journey to completion, not the least of whom are the 7,000 construction workers, many of them LiUNA members, who will work to build the pipeline. Projects like Mariner East 2 revitalize local economies, give consumers more choice, and help put our nation on the road toward energy independence. More than anything though, large-scale infrastructure projects like the Mariner East 2 represent job security for thousands of blue-collar workers and their families, granting them the financial peace of mind that they deserve. (PennLive op-ed, 2/23/17)
  • American Natural Gas Boosts Local Manufacturing: Export-based Dura-Bond Industries has turned itself into one of the go-to manufacturers of steel pipe in the United States. It employs about 550 people and is preparing to add 100 more jobs in the historic steel-making heart of the Mon Valley. … “My (coating) mill and that steel mill generate revenue and spend money that is pumped back out into the economy. It’s not just 100 jobs making pipe — it’s thousands of people that support that piece of pipe,” said Dura-Bond President Jason Norris. (Tribune-Review, 2/17/17)
  • “Pipeline to Prosperity: How an Ethane Cracker Facility Grows in Beaver County”: 7News anchor Tate Blanchard set out to find communities that are already experiencing the impacts of ethane cracker facilities across the country. … “When the plant is completed there will be 600 family sustaining jobs, just at the cracker plant, but that’s not where the game changing comes in. I mean, it’s part of it, it’s the catalyst, but the game-changing part of it is the ancillary, upstream, downstream, businesses that will come here,” said Beaver County Commissioner Tony Amadio. (WTRF, 2/17/17)
  • Natural Gas Power Plant “Generates a Lot of Income for a Lot of Families”: More than 600 local construction-type jobs are expected to be needed to build the $780 million project, said Vasu Pinapati, Tenaska’s vice president of engineering. … Seven local unions are represented among the 150 employees at the site. Another 50 to 60 supervisory positions are working. Augie Didiano, president of Cement Masons Local 526, called the project a win. “As far as union workers, or any workers really, it generates a lot of income for a lot of families that are trying to make it through day by day,” Didiano said. (Tribune-Review, 2/22/17)
  • Former VFW Leader: American Energy Makes Nation More Secure: Producing more energy at home makes the nation more secure. For too long we have been wasting our blood and treasure in places that don’t deserve either. We don’t have to do that any longer. We can’t continue to live in the past. It’s time for New England to fully embrace the energy revolution that is lowering costs and helping the environment across the country. And that begins with a commitment to invest in the energy infrastructure that we need to lead us forward through the 21st (Hartford Courant op-ed, 2/25/27)

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