Making it usable

With “fracking” comes “cracking”--the process that turns the heavy molecules from gas and oil wells into butane, polypropylene and a host of chemicals used in everything from paint to auto parts.   

PA is the pick

When Shell Oil said it would put a huge new “cracker” near the eastern shale gas fields, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania vied for it. A site near Pittsburg won. 

Just spin?  Maybe not

Ohio Gov. John Kaisch told reporters last week that even if Ohio didn’t get it, as long as the cracker was nearby the state would benefit. Bob Weis, Chairman of the University of Akron Polymer Engineering Department says it likely will:   “You need to supply them with materials, you need to supply them with even chemicals to do what they’re doing—catalysts. You need to supply them with expertise. You know, they’re going to be looking around at the intellectual base in the area…which in northeast Ohio is pretty strong.”      

Another brass ring

The other governor whose state lost out, West Virginia’s Earl Ray Tomblin, told a Charleston paper there may be another company looking at the region for another cracker.