Home to a plethora of natural resources and a well-trained labor force, Cambria County is rightly called Pennsylvania’s “Energy County.” A recent editorial in the The Tribune Democrat by Linda Thomson, president of the nonprofit economic development organization JARI, highlighted the private and public efforts catalyzing the connectivity of the “Energy County” and of the region at-large.
County-wide efforts to integrate variegated social and environmental concerns with energy infrastructure development have underscored the potential these energy networks hold for Cambria County and across the state. The Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Fairview Energy Center is a major infrastructure project in Cambria County and central to these energy generation efforts in Pennsylvania, that is largely made possible through its connection agreement Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East project.
Linda Thomson elaborates that she “learned that ethane from Mariner East will be able to supply about 20 percent of the center’s fuel, depending on the needs at any given time. Because it’s so close to Sunoco’s pipelines, CPV Fairview will use Mariner East’s existing right of way, creating a clean environmental footprint.”
Furthermore, Thomson responds to allegations she had heard regarding “pipelines such as Mariner East [moving] our resources around the state without benefiting locals, but I can say otherwise in Cambria County.” She explains that she feels “this latest collaboration between Sunoco, CPV and local leadership is a perfect example of how local support can encourage corporations to combine their strengths to create the most efficient ventures, give back to local communities and create a sustainable future for Pennsylvanians.”
The economic opportunities harbored by the Marcellus and Utica shale plays stand to make a big difference across the region – and in Cambria County particularly. Listening to Linda Thomson, the “Cambria County environment [is] ripe for partnership.”