(Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

At a recent meeting of the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce, I posed the following question to Brian Chavez, who represents the 30th Ohio Senate District and is chairman of the Ohio Senate Energy Committee: “What economic benefit does the injection-well industry (which pumps millions of barrels of production waste from hydraulic fracturing) present to Washington County, and how would you assess the economic cost/benefit ratio of this industry for our region?”

Since Mr. Chavez did not really answer my question, I attempted to answer it at the Dec.18 meeting of the Washington County Commissioners. The costs of this industry are huge: risks to the water aquifers, increased seismic activity, air and water pollution, and trucks labeled “brine,” plying our state and county roads bearing their toxic and radioactive brew. The benefits — a few jobs for brine haulers who are taking great risks to their own health in dealing with the dangerous material. If there are any benefits of the larger industry of high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, very little of it comes to Washington County and the Mid-Ohio Valley.

But what actually are the benefits of the fracking industry to the larger area of northern Appalachia (West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Pennsylvania and the 32 counties of Ohio within the Appalachian region)?

Although fossil-fuel interests have promised economic growth, and jobs in the region as a result of the fracking boom, the strategic economic triad of natural gas, petrochemicals and hydrogen, are actually dragging down northern Appalachia, 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.

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 relative to the rest of the U.S., 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 by14%, and population declined by 3% (it grew by 10% nationally). Meanwhile, the ARCH2 hydrogen hub, the Appalachian manifestation of a national initiative to produce hydrogen mainly from methane (i.e., natural gas), is moribund. A third of ARCH2’s projects and developers have dropped out, ARCH2’s effort to replace them failed, the only ARCH2 project to advance to the construction phase recently declared bankruptcy and laid off its workers, and ARCH2’s managers have not updated its website or responded to inquiries since last spring.

The group ReImagine Appalachia, which focuses on sustainable economic development and good-paying jobs, has offered an alternative to the extractive fossil-fuel industries, which have exploited Appalachia for decades — first with timber and coal and then with oil and gas. RA has provided a document called “Appalachian Manufacturing Action Plan,” which provides compelling models for economic development rooted in the manufacturing infrastructure of the region and our highly capable, hard-working labor force. Among these ideas are: repurposing retired coal-fired power plants (an approach already being pursued by the Southeast Ohio Port Authority), the manufacture of wind-turbine parts, investing in applied research to derive rare-earth metals from coal ash, producing wood-binding layers and “ecobricks” for construction materials, growing hemp (absent the THC) as an alternative to plastics, producing bioplastics from algae and mushroom roots, researching and improving battery technology (as is being done in Ravenswood). The traditional model of manufacturing — that is, the linear model, where a raw material is extracted, shipped to a manufacturer and the waste discarded — should be replaced by a circular model, where raw materials are recycled, reclaimed, repurposed and reused. The latter model is actually being realized in western Pennsylvania and in Morganton, North Carolina, where an “industrial commons” has been established.

The proliferation of data centers in Ohio and throughout the country requires a tremendous amount of energy. Natural gas will not be sufficient to provide this voracious appetite for electricity. Renewable sources like wind and solar will be needed to complement this energy need — an all-of-the above approach to energy. And manufacturing will be needed to provide the supplies and equipment in the form of wind turbines, solar panels and attendant items. Appalachian industries can help to provide these important resources for the economic development of the 21st century.

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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, of Citizens Climate Lobby, and a contributor to Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.