Last week, as reported by the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance, the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee approved a bipartisan resolution (S.R. 375) that calls on the U.S. Congress to support the development of an ethane storage hub in the Appalachian region, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Today, the full Senate followed suit by unanimously adopting the resolution, 49-0, sponsored by Republican Sen. Camera Bartolotta of Washington, Greene and Beaver counties.
It is interesting to note that when the measure was approved,10-2, by the committee, it was opposed only by Sens. Andrew Dinniman and Daylin Leach, both southeastern Pennsylvania lawmakers opposed to the Mariner East pipelines. Both senators reversed course to approve the measure on the Senate floor.
Maybe that’s because, according to Bartolotta, developing an ethane storage and distribution hub in the Appalachian region would lead to additional investments that could eventually create as many as 100,000 new direct and indirect jobs and $28 billion in new economic output.
Infrastructure will be critical to supporting the initiative.
If you are writing about this resolution, please find a statement from the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance. You can quote me, Kurt Knaus, as PEIA spokesman:
Statement:
“This unanimous vote is a good reminder of the critical importance of infrastructure projects. Senator Bartolotta’s resolution calling on Congress to support the development of an ethane storage hub in Appalachia is a win for Pennsylvania and a step toward taking advantage of the region’s vast deposits of natural gas. To ensure the safe transport of materials at these facilities, the state also must increase development of pipeline infrastructure like Mariner East and others. Pipelines are the safest ways to transport these materials. We applaud this vote and encourage continued investments in the infrastructure needed to support them.”