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Justice, Manchin working together to promote state

CHARLESTON — They might not like each other these days, but Gov. Jim Justice and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are working together on ways to make West Virginia a hub for petrochemical production.

Justice announced a meeting held Monday between himself, Commerce Secretary Ed Gaunch and representatives of the Department of Energy. They discussed opportunities for economic growth in the state’s natural gas industry, including construction of crackers and a storage hub for natural gas byproducts.

“It is absolutely vital that we create a petrochemical industry in West Virginia versus building more pipelines that leave our state without creating any long-term manufacturing jobs,” Justice said in a statement.

Justice and Gaunch met with Steven Winberg, the assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Fossil Energy, and Ken Humphreys Jr., Winberg’s senior adviser and a West Virginia native. Winberg estimates that locating a petrochemical facility in the state could bring in $30 billion of investment over a decade and create more than 100,000 jobs.

“West Virginia faces a once-in-a-generation opportunity to play a major role in the new Appalachian petrochemical industry,” Winberg said. “With abundant quantities of ethane, a valuable petrochemical feedstock, increasingly co-produced with West Virginia’s natural gas, the state is well-positioned to attract a significant slice of that investment and the associated jobs.”

Justice said he plans to appoint someone to act as a liaison between the Department of Energy and the state to help assist with planning of future petrochemical facilities.

On the federal front, Manchin is working with the Department of Energy to pave the way for an Appalachian Storage Hub in West Virginia. On Monday, Manchin announced the introduction of the Appalachian Energy for National Security Act, which would require the departments of Energy, Defense and Treasury to study the national security potential of locating a hub in the heart of the Marcellus and Utica shales.

“The benefits of a natural gas liquids storage hub in Appalachia are abundant,” Manchin said in a statement. “It would be an economic driver for the region, would expand energy infrastructure, and would increase our domestic production of the petrochemical resources we rely on.”

The act also requires the study of issues with foreign ownership of petrochemical facilities and resources, the need for geographical diversity when locating production facilities and calls for an evaluation of energy exports.

Manchin, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, heard testimony last week from Energy Secretary Rick Perry. During that meeting, Perry told Manchin that progress toward a storage hub in Appalachia was not moving as fast as he would like.

“Senator, we have talked about this at length and, frankly, it’s not happening as fast as I’d like to see it,” Perry said. “This is a win-win for America. This is about American energy security, it’s about American jobs and I hope we collectively – the Administration, Congress, Democrats, Republicans – look at this and go ‘this makes sense for America.'”

A petrochemical storage hub, such as the proposed Appalachian Storage Hub, takes natural gas byproducts, such as ethane, butane and ethylene, and stores them underground for future use in manufacturing. Experts believe that locating such a facility in West Virginia would spur economic growth in the state.

A report released by the Department of Energy at the end of 2018 looked at the potential for a storage hub in either West Virginia, Ohio or Pennsylvania. Possible locations in West Virginia include along the Ohio Valley between Hancock and Tyler counties, North Central West Virginia and the Kanawha Valley.

Justice and Manchin have exchanged barbs recently. In an interview on West Virginia MetroNews March 14, Manchin took Justice to task for not spending enough time at the state Capitol. Justice is party to a suit calling for him to follow the state Constitution and reside in Charleston.

“He just won’t work,” Manchin said. “Doesn’t show up. You can’t run the state from The Greenbrier. That’s just not the way it works. And you lead by example.”

In a March 26 press release praising President Donald Trump for being “exonerated” by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Justice criticized Manchin for not being more supportive of the president, calling Manchin a “one of those loud Washington Liberals.”

“Joe’s refusal to back President Trump shouldn’t be a surprise — after all, Joe voted ‘no’ on President Trump’s wall, Joe voted ‘no’ on President Trump’s middle-class tax cuts and Joe voted ‘no’ on President Trump’s repeal and replace of Obama Care,” Justice said.

Still, Justice said Monday that the effort to get petrochemical facilities in the state will take everyone working together, from state officials all the way up to the congressional and federal level.

“Representatives from the Trump administration have assured us they will do all they can to help us turn this into a reality in the very near future,” Justice said. “This will take a team effort between the state Legislature, our congressional delegation, and all of our cabinet members to make this happen.”

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