Progress 2020: Learning from the past to build a future post-Shell – The Times

Decades after the steel industry left Beaver County searching for a new identity, county officials are using those lessons learned to prepare for life after Shell.

Its said that insanity is doing the same action and expecting a different result.

Well, no one can tell the Beaver County Board of Commissioners theyre insane.

As completion looms on Shell Chemicals ethane cracker plant, the three men leading Beaver County into the future know they cant make the same mistakes the county made in the past.

Whether its planning capital projects out ahead to make sure that 20-year-old facilities will last a long time or making sure that all of the countys workforce eggs arent in Shells basket, Commissioner Chairman Daniel Camp, four-term Commissioner Tony Amadio and newly elected Commissioner Jack Manning believe the groundwork is laid for the county to not repeat the mistakes of the age of steel.

The board two terms ago spent time visiting other developments to see what happened after the initial construction boom, Camp said. And they saw hope.

Its the ancillary jobs, the downstream jobs that hopefully these companies are going to want to cut out the middleman and be closer to the source of their product, which is the plastic pellets, Camp said. Whether its in Beaver County, or Butler, Washington or Lawrence counties, as long as its in our region it will be a win for Beaver County.

Amadio shares that optimism, and believes that undeveloped riverfront properties could draw businesses who want to keep their transportation costs down to the Beaver Valley.

Hopefully, were going to be able to draw on businesses that will come here because they use the feedstock thats going to be produced from the cracker plant, Amadio said. For instance, I use Mattel toys, or any company that uses plastics in their product, thinking they can get their processing plant close to where the actual feedstock is, theyll save a lot of money.

And as that happens, Manning said, the county could grow more diverse.

I see Beaver County starting to grow more diverse economically and in population I think we have to, Manning said. It bodes well for the area to have a much more stable, much more diverse economy where were not putting all our eggs back in the petrochemical basket, any more than we were so reliant on the steel.

Amadio thinks that county leaders can learn from the exodus of the steel industry, but has faith that the oil and gas industry will be around just as long, if not longer, than steel was.

Were sitting on the BTU equivalent of Saudi Arabia. This product, this industry, is going to be here a very long time, Amadio said. The steel industry lasted what, 100 years, 80 years. So if we can get that out of the gas industry, that would be a pretty good plus for the county.

Camp said there has already been a lot of growth that will stay out of Shells investment.

Were already starting to see the Shell facility changing Beaver County to the point where were starting to see restaurants and hotels and things that might not have made the investment into Beaver County that wouldnt have made the investment, Camp said.

And some of that diversification that Manning maintains is needed is happening near the plant already health care expansion and other educational and social services cropping up by the Beaver Valley Mall, just a handful of miles from the cracker plant.

In Beaver County after decades of decline and struggle, were hopeful to find meaningful work and jobs, Manning said. But we still have significant challenges.

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Progress 2020: Learning from the past to build a future post-Shell - The Times