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Washington County, which leads the Greater Pittsburgh Region in energy production and industrial/commercial development, continues to maintain its strong position among Southwestern Pennsylvania counties in terms of economic growth and job creation.

Joint meeting - Was. Co. Commissioners and Local business leaders.

To emphasize this growth, the Washington County Board of Commissioners recently joined with 392 Washington County business leaders at the Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh/Southpointe to highlight 90 economic development projects that account for over $727.6 million in capital investment in Washington County during the past year. These projects were also complemented by over $6.7 million in additional investments the county has made in 2017 through the Washington County Local Share Account (LSA) - a fund capitalized by gaming revenues. These LSA investments are being leveraged by an additional $29million in public and private resources.

“Washington County continues to lead the Greater Pittsburgh Region in creating new economic growth, new job opportunities and county-wide expansion,” stated Larry Maggi, Chairman of the Washington County Board of Commissioners. “In 2017, our public and private partners announced $727,609,978 in new business investment and an additional 1,438created/retained jobs in Washington County. This tremendous growth in business investment and job creation was driven by numerous sectors of our economy-energy,commercial/retail development, healthcare and infrastructure. We are proud of that success especially in creating new job opportunities for our residents,” Chairman Maggi commented.

Chairman Maggi also correlated the county’s manufacturing success to the energy industry. “Many of the manufacturing expansions our county has witnessed have not only been due to new market opportunities but also our access to low cost energy and our national position in the natural gas industry. For instance, JJ Kennedy announced it will construct a ready-mix concrete plant, silo and supply yard in Robinson Township to support the construction of the Southern Beltway and Shell Cracker site in Beaver County. We are well situated to fully leverage our leadership in the energy industry to create new opportunities across industry sectors,” Maggi remarked.

Chairman Maggi further stated that the energy industry continued to innovate and remain strong in 2017.“Washington County led the state again in 2017 in unconventional well permits with 515-which is more than 25% of the total number of permits issued in the entire state.

The county also led the state in the total number of wells drilled with 209 or 23% of the total wells drilled in the state,” Maggi commented.

He further explained that energy activity attracted corporate investment. “Our county’s leadership in the energy sector proved itself once again with significant investments in our area. Three energy companies, ECM Energy, Huntley & Huntley and DTE Energy leased space in Southpointe Business Park; MarkWest submitted plans to Smith Township to obtain approval to build two de-ethanizers and four cryogenic plants at their 130-acre Harmon Creek processing facility and Corsa Coal more than doubled its headquarters space in Southpointe. We also saw CNX Coal Resources and OMNIS Bailey announce a partnership to build a one-of-a-kind solid energy refinery into high quality clean carbon fuel and topsoil that has been shown to remediate mineral depleted farmland-leading to enhanced plant growth and nutritionally superior food. The real innovation is that this refinery will create two marketable products from coal waste that offer significant benefits-cleaner energy and better food,” Maggi stated.

Chairman Maggi further stressed energy’s importance by highlighting HydroEdge Solutions’-a company that develops and operates temporary water lines for hydraulic fracturing operations-plans to hire 20 additional employees to complement its 92 employees at locations in McMurrary and Eighty-Four and FTS International announcing plans to relocate its Ohio wireline division to Speers Industrial Park in the Monongahela Valley. With the relocation, FTS will now have three locations in Washington County.

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