Sep 30, 2016 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – The Shell cracker plant that will be built in Beaver County is more than 70 miles from Waynesburg, but this region already has the infrastructure and workforce to capitalize on the economic opportunities it will bring.

That was the message state Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin brought to economic and community leaders in Greene County during a roundtable discussion about how the state can help this area can take advantage of what the cracker plant will bring in the form of jobs and development.

Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC announced in June it would move forward with an ethane cracker plant near Monaca that will create as many as 6,000 construction jobs over the four years it takes to build the facility and 600 permanent jobs once it begins production. Construction is expected to begin in December 2017.

“We are most excited with what we think will happen after,” Davin said. “We think communities that have had a tough go of it lately will have a great opportunity.”

This was the fourth such round table discussion Davin held in Western Pennsylvania in recent months, including one about a month ago in Washington, to discuss what the DCED can do to help. The state agency is in charge of distributing grants and helping with community projects.

“It’s deliberate that we’re here again,” Davin told the two-dozen people gathered in the Mined Minds meeting room in Waynesburg. “The more you talk about it and the more people read about it, the more people understand the importance of it.”

Davin wanted to hear directly from the community and business leaders how DCED can help and what other initiative the state agency to increase development in Greene County.

“Oh, boy,” Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said when asked for ideas. “I’m making a list.”

Zimmerman said one of the keys to encouraging development is attracting young people through recreational options, whether it be expanding walking trails, improving Ryerson Station State Park or welcoming microbreweries and restaurants.

“We need help at your level and the federal level to bring people in,” Zimmerman said.

The roundtable at Mined Minds, a software development and tech consulting nonprofit located at located at 145 W. High St. in the borough, was a symbolic meeting place to show how to retool for a new economy beyond coal. The organization’s founders, spouses Jonathan Graham and Amanda Laucher, are helping the unemployed retrain in Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“We want more people to hear the story, ‘I grew up here and I came back,'” said Laucher, speaking of her own experience of returning to Greene County after growing up in Nemacolin.

Their programs, mostly geared to former or unemployed miners, include people ages 16 to 60, and one class is filled with as many women as men, Graham said.

“We believe in the diversification of the work environment and believe the tech industry can help,” Graham said. “If there are enough talented people, then the work will come in. We just need a little help.”

Davin, who worked in Pittsburgh for years, saw firsthand the downfall of the steel industry affected the economy there for years. He agreed that diversifying the economy is key to protect the community from the loss of one industry, such as coal mining.

“It’s easy to say and much harder to do,” he said.

But even with the loss of many coal mining jobs in recent years and the momentary drop in natural gas production, Greene County still has the infrastructure in place with “incredible assets” for rails, waterways and highways, Davin said.

“Some of them are tired, outdated … but we’re charged with upgrading them,” he said.

With similar cracker plants possibly coming to Ohio and West Virginia, this area could one day be the epicenter of development for generations to come. State Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, was adamant they took advantage of the opportunity of the cracker plant and other projects.

“I don’t think we’ve seen an opportunity like this in my lifetime or anyone else’s lifetime,” said state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson. “Greene County could be the epicenter. We have all the pieces of the puzzle. We need your help putting it together.”

The key, however, is to have areas already zoned or prepped for shovel-ready projects in and when they arrive.

“This is right in the center of the activity,” Davin said. “We want to help you prepare for it.”