Business and industry groups want to continue leveraging Pennsylvania’s rivers to encourage workforce development, energy growth, and economic development across the state, panelists said on Friday during a joint Pennsylvania Senate hearing.
Members from both the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources Energy Committee and the State Senate Labor and Industry Committee delved into the significance of the state’s waterways to energy and economic development led by committee chairs State Sens. Gene Yaw (R-23) and Camera Bartolotta (R-46), who spearheaded the Oct. 14 hearing.
“Pennsylvania’s strategic location along several prime waterways should be a calling card for businesses looking to expand or relocate into our region,” Yaw said. “It’s imperative that we don’t miss any opportunity to attract growth to our state and that includes marketing ourselves as the premier place to do business.”
“As our economy struggles against the crushing effects of inflation exacerbated by decisions made at the national level, it is more critical than ever for public officials serving at the state level to remain dedicated to improving the economy,” said Bartolotta. “We must capitalize on all available resources for the benefit of Pennsylvanians.”
The hearing, held at the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, included two panels. The first featured testimony from Mary Ann Bucci, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh Commission; Justin Trudell, Chief Operating Officer of FirstLight Power Resources Inc.; and Jay Anders, COO at Rye Development. Hydropower was a major benefit point underscored by the first panel speakers.
“Our waterways are the lifeblood of the region’s economy,” testified Bucci, who noted that the state’s navigable waterways encompass 200 miles and include 17 locks and dams through which roughly 16 million tons of freight traffic valued at over $2 billion per year must pass.
“This waterway network directly reaches no less than 12 Pennsylvania counties and supports 76,500 jobs and $11.3 billion in gross state product, $5.5 billion in personal income, $25.6 billion in total output giving rise to $1.1 billion in state and local tax revenue,” she said.
Some of the companies that contribute to this overall economic impact and rely on the waterways include the multi-year construction of the Shell Chemical ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pa., which “will result in an economic energy surge for supporting businesses, as well as increased transportation needs,” said Bucci. The plant is located near the Ohio River.
“Even if the cracker plant does not employ waterways transportation directly for raw materials or finished products, construction activities and related support certainly will to some degree,” she testified.
Another waterway-supported industry related to energy is hydropower, said Bucci, adding that there are four operating hydropower plants on dams on the Allegheny River in the Port of Pittsburgh, generating a total of 42 megawatts (MWs). Another plant is under construction.
Justin Trudell, chief operating officer at FirstLight Power, also pointed to the benefits hydropower can bring to Pennsylvania’s energy and economic development.
As a clean power producer and energy storage company in New England and Pennsylvania, FIrstLight has a portfolio that includes nearly 1.4 gigawatts (GWs) of pumped-hydro storage, battery storage, hydroelectric generation, and solar generation.
Trudell testified that in Pennsylvania specifically, the company operates two run-of-river hydropower stations located at Allegheny Lock and Dams number 8 and 9 totaling 31.5 MWs producing around 200,000 MW hours per year. “That’s enough electricity to power roughly 28,000 homes with clean, renewable energy,” he said.
Because typical hydropower sites are usually located in rural parts of the states where FirstLight operates, Trudell said the company generally offers above-average salaries and benefits to employees.
“Hydropower is also a great landing spot for employees leaving shuttering fossil-fueled plants as we continue to focus on the clean energy future,” said Trudell, noting that approximately 25 percent of FirstLight operations employees have previously worked in the fossil industry.
“These are just the direct labor benefits our hydropower operations bring to the state,” he added. “FirstLight also spends millions of dollars each year to safely operate and maintain the facilities, purchase insurance, and pay local and state property taxes.”
Jay Anders, COO at Rye Development, also highlighted its development of new, low-impact hydropower in the United States, where the company has a current pipeline of over 25 projects in 10 states. The southwestern part of Pennsylvania is a flagship location for Rye, said Anders, and the company has successfully received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses to construct new hydropower on eight U.S. Army Corps of Engineers existing lock and dam structures. Of these eight sustainable infrastructure projects, three will break ground over the next 12 to 24 months, he said.
At the same time, Rye also has formal partnerships in place with both Allegheny County, Pa., and the University of Pittsburgh to supply renewable energy from local sources.
“When constructed, these facilities will generate around-the-clock renewable power for Pennsylvania’s citizens for no less than 80 to 100 years,” said Anders. “Rye’s proposed projects do not affect the existing lock and dam functionality and in fact represent an investment in these critical pieces of infrastructure for generations to come.”
U.S. Steel Corp.’s Clairton Plant on the Monongahela River is entirely dependent on barge transportation for its raw material and brings in five million tons of metallurgical coal annually for the production of coke, according to Bucci.
In addition to its Clairton Plant, Chris Masciantonio, general manager of state government affairs for U.S. Steel, testified during the second panel that the company has several other facilities in Pennsylvania: the Fairless Plant, the Edgar Thomson Plant, the Research and Technology Center, and the Irvin Plant, and all of them are connected by the rivers running through the state.
U.S. Steel is also the Pittsburgh region’s largest manufacturer and Masciantonio called it an economic engine for the region. The company’s corporate headquarters are in the city, where it also has its R&D center and Mon Valley Works, which consists of three integrated manufacturing locations.
“Our relationship with rivers is critical,” said Masciantonio, “and helps ensure the essential movement of materials. We’re heavily dependent on waterways in southwestern Pennsylvania and the safe and reliable transportation on rivers is vital.”
In fact, according to Sen. Bartolotta, such economic waterway-dependent drivers are integral to establishing Pittsburgh “as the gateway to the West.”
Bucci agreed and said all of the companies are dependent on the reliable navigation of the state’s rivers, just as commerce everywhere else throughout the country is dependent upon adequate roads and railway networks.
“The inland waterway system is vital to Pennsylvania’s energy future and to its continued economic development,” Bucci testified.
As the committees continue to delve into this topic, Bucci urged the committees to appreciate “the conduit of the inland waterways and port system” to Pennsylvania’s competitiveness and growth.
“Investing in our ports, terminals, and other related industries is an investment in Pennsylvania’s economic prosperity because, coal, petroleum, steel chemicals, building materials and over 76,000 jobs are riding on our waterways transportation system in the Port of Pittsburgh Commission’s region,” she said.