Chasing
Opportunity
JENNIFER JETT PREZKOP
The Appalachia Storage and Trading Hub is gaining momentum. What once
may have seemed like a fantasy is now growing closer to reality, and the fight
to revolutionize energy and manufacturing in Appalachia is taking place—
with West Virginia right in the middle.
“Onward we go.”
This sentiment, shared by Steve Hedrick, the CEO at Appa-
lachia Development Group, LLC, is a mantra for those behind
the development of the Appalachia Storage and Trading Hub.
“We’re working very hard at this,” Hedrick says of the effort
to go from concept to reality. “We’re stubborn—folks from
Appalachia have always been that way. We have the will to
win, and we hate to lose.”
The concept of the Appalachia Storage and Trading Hub is a
significant subsurface storage across multiple facilities for nat-
ural gas liquids (NGLs) and chemical intermediates connected
to a network of pipelines that would serve as a catalyst to both
the petrochemical and manufacturing industries. After years
of conducting studies and addressing potential challenges to
prove the hub is an endeavor worth fighting for, momentum
is picking up. Tri-state leadership support as well as the firm
backing of leaders on Capitol Hill have propelled this concept
closer to reality. With an American Chemistry Council study
showing that the $36 billion investment in the hub could result
in 100,000 jobs, $2.9 billion in annual tax revenues and a $28
billion economic expansion, the flames have been stoked, and
anticipation is spreading like wildfire.
With the opportunities that exist with the hub, West Vir-
ginia—and Appalachia as a whole—are on the precipice of a
major energy and manufacturing revolution that will create
jobs, sustain families, encourage start-ups and expansions,
jumpstart manufacturing and create a U.S.-based powerhouse
that will help support energy dominance.
WWW.WVEXECUTIVE.COM
SPRING 2018
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