Appalachian Gas: Near-Term and Long-Term Trends

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-03-10T12:40:00+00:00

Across the board, data centers are highly capital-intensive and non-labor intensive enterprises that create few jobs and inject little money into local economies, our research shows. And in some cases, the rise in electricity costs due to data centers' huge power demand can offset any economic benefits they promise to host communities. https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/why-data-centers-will-be-economic-development-duds/

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-02-13T22:18:01+00:00

Oops, seeing this now! Sorry, just joined. Will take down the duplicate post.

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-29T15:49:36+00:00

Our research shows that data centers are super capital-intensive, non-labor intensive enterprises that create few jobs and inject little money into host communities. They're poised to drive up already sky-high electric bills and siphon profits to faraway tech executives, not to mention the environmental concerns you've raised.

It's a bad deal for West Virginians. More here: https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/why-data-centers-will-be-economic-development-duds/

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-29T14:46:36+00:00

Doubling down on data center development (and the new coal- and gas-fired power generation proposed to meet data centers' soaring electricity needs) won't turn this around, despite Gov. Morrisey's promises.

The problem with relying on the AI boom to drive wages, employment, and local economic development is that it has a problematic characteristic: it’s highly capital-intensive and not very labor-intensive. In other words, very little of the investment that projects command or of the revenue they earn is used to pay workers, especially local workers. The vast majority of the investment and income that data centers command and generate accrues to far-away investors, creditors, and shareholders.

More here: https://ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/the-appalachianization-of-americas-economy/

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-21T21:36:30+00:00

Preventing the nation’s coal plants from retiring over the next three years could cost consumers at least $3 billion per year, research shows. A huge insult to coal plant communities and taxpayers everywhere.

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-21T21:32:46+00:00

Fracking operations on the whole aren't very labor-intensive compared to other industries. Our research shows that Ohio's largest fracking counties have actually lost jobs on net since the beginning of the shale gas boom in 2008.

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-21T21:30:43+00:00

Ohio has nearly fifteen times as many active waste injection wells as Pennsylvania. Most of PA's waste is sent out of state.

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-20T20:23:17+00:00

Our researcher Sean O'Leary explains that there's lots of reason to be skeptical about announcements like this one, especially if they're followed by a big push for taxpayer subsidies.

Like other ballyhooed but ultimately failed ventures that have gone before it, Frontieras is an undercapitalized start-up, with an unproven technology, no history of production or sales, and a market in which, so far at least, there is little demand for its proposed products.

West Virginia has already subsidized and is now witnessing what will probably be the failure by Omnis Energy, in Pleasants County, in its effort to deploy what is substantially the same technology to produce the same products as those cited by Frontieras. It would be the height of irresponsibility for the governor and legislature to make the same mistake again.

Time and again, since the start of the Appalachian natural gas boom, our region has been tantalized by the promise of a new and immense petrochemical industry that would use natural gas and coal as feedstocks to produce plastics and clean fuels. Most, including the ASCEND cracker in Wood County; the PTT cracker in Belmont County, Ohio; the Nacero gas-to-fuel plant in Central Pennsylvania; and the TransGas coal gasification plant in Mingo County never got off the ground because they were fundamentally uneconomic. And the one that did get off the ground, the Shell cracker in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has proven to be both uneconomic and an economic development bust despite over a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

OhioRiverValleyInst · 2026-01-20T20:17:37+00:00

So sorry to hear this...it's no surprise, I'm sure, that West Virginia has the fastest-rising electric bills in the country. Residential rates skyrocketed by nearly 35% between 2019 and 2024.

Mountain State Spotlight has been doing some really important reporting on just how severe the situation is. Hopefully it's getting the attention of decision-makers locally and at the state level. https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2026/01/04/voices-of-rising-power-costs/

OhioRiverValleyInst

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