Manufacturing has declined in recent years – stemming in large part from the steep rises in costs of energy and linked government regulations. New and repurposed pipeline infrastructure present real opportunities to help reinvigorate this sector.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Braskem, the Brazilian thermoplastics producer whose North America operations are based in Philadelphia, announced Thursday that it had formally approved spending $675 million to build a new polypropylene plant in Texas after ruling out a site last year in Marcus Hook because of the lack of infrastructure.” The piece elaborated that, “Last year, local business leaders held up Braskem’s decision to expand in Texas as an example of why Pennsylvania business and political leaders needed to support the build-out of pipeline infrastructure to deliver raw material from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations.”
If Pennsylvania doesn’t move forward with pipeline infrastructure projects like Mariner East 2 to create manufacturing opportunities in Pennsylvania itself, then Pennsylvanians will continue to lose manufacturing opportunities to competing regions across the country.