Climate Corner: The broken promise of natural gas

Apr 5, 2025

George Banziger

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

The March 12, 2025, edition the Marietta Times ran a front-page story on reports touting the importance of natural gas and oil to the region. It was noted in these reports that Mahoning and Trumbull counties were tops in natural gas production in the state. In its subsequent edition (March 13) the Times rightly pointed out that these shiny proclamations have had no discernible effect on the economies of this region of Appalachia. Mahoning County, the home of Congressman Michael Rulli, still has a poverty rate of 17.6% and an employment rate of 6.6% (figures for the U.S. as a whole are 11.1% and 4.1 %, respectively). The editorial went on to state, “Something about this process is broken.”

What is “broken” is the inequity in the fact that capital-intensive oil and gas industries are reaping billions of dollars from the extraction of natural gas and providing no appreciable benefit to the region from which it is extracting these natural resources.

In fact, our region, specifically Washington County, is forced to deal with the excrement from high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, in the form of production waste, also called brine waste. Washington County leads the state in amount of production waste injected into its grounds while it experiences little of the benefits of the fracking industry. Just in the last few weeks Deep Rock Disposal has filed a permit request to the Division of Oil and Gas Resource Management of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for yet another injection well in our county. Warren Township trustees, in addition to many others in the county, have requested a public meeting on this topic; yet the Division refuses to set such a meeting where questions and concerns about the safety of drinking water and other environmental and health concerns can be addressed.

Although the fossil-fuel interests have promised economic growth, and jobs in the region, the strategic economic triad of natural gas, petrochemicals, and hydrogen, are actually dragging down northern Appalachia (eastern Ohio, West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and western Pennsylvania), according to a recent study by the Ohio River Valley Institute (2025). The expansion of natural gas extraction has not delivered on its promise of jobs and economic development. ARCH2, an Appalachian manifestation of a national initiative to produce hydrogen mainly from methane (i.e., natural gas) has lopped off projects in the region as the result of many involved in this business who have recognized that an ARCH2 project is a failed and unsustainable business model.

The growth in production of natural gas in northern Appalachia has not translated into job growth; income growth in this region lags the U.S. by over 30%. The gas-producing areas of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania are getting poorer, older, and less populated, according to this ORVI report. In the 30 counties of this tri-state region that produce natural gas, jobs declined by 1%, while nationally they grew by 14%, and population declined by 3% (it grew by 10% nationally).

The future of natural gas production does not bode well for consumers. Much of the natural gas produced in this area, including that extracted from beneath our state parks, will be used to fuel new gas-fired power plants. The need for electricity is rapidly accelerating all over the country with the expansion of data centers, which are power-hungry hogs. Natural gas will further be used for conversion to liquified natural gas (LNG) for export with the support of new infrastructure at our ports. The expected market demand for all this natural gas will likely result in higher utility prices for consumers.

So, what are some alternatives to the extraction of natural gas in the region for the promotion of economic development? What is needed for economic expansion, job growth, and population increase are labor-intensive industries that result in sustainable and high-wage jobs. One idea, which was raised by the group, ReImagine Appalachia, in a recent presentation on this issue (March 2025) is development of the wind-turbine supply chain — not the actual establishment of wind turbines in the region but the manufacture of the components of these rapidly growing sources of electricity. In any one wind turbine device there are over 8,000 components. Turbine blades are the most noticeable and cumbersome of these components; they are too big to be transported by truck so our proximity to the Ohio River would allow for the shipment of these items by barge. Parts for batteries, generators, and other electrical items often rely on components that require rare-earth minerals. Researchers at the University of Kentucky and at West Virginia University are working on processes to extract these minerals from coal ash. The fabrication of structural materials, making turbine blades from recyclable materials, transport of turbine blades and related manufacturing activities can result in numerous opportunities for labor-intensive economic and job growth for the region.

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George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.