Possible building of an ethane cracker plant in Ohio

ZANESVILLE, Ohio-Belmont County Port Authority said the building of an ethane cracker plant would benefit all of Ohio.

There are currently plans to build an ethane cracker plant in Belmont County. An ethane cracker plant is a refinery that turns ethane into plastic resin. Belmont County Port Authority Executive Director, Larry Merry said this project would bring incredible economic growth to surrounding counties.

“It’s going to take 4-5 years to build this facility. There will be between 5,000 and 6,000 construction worker on site. When we were doing the evaluation, even where these construction workers could stay, we included the Zanesville motels in that preparation,” said Merry.

Merry said the economic improvements won’t stop after the plant is built. There will be jobs once it’s created and the cost of plastic items in the area will likely decrease.

“The ability to get plastic resin really close by as compared to right now, it’s probably coming from the Gulf of Mexico. So, you cut out those transportation costs and it’s going to make it’s a very competitive situation to be able to have the raw product plus the finished customers for those products being within a 500-mile radius of this part of Ohio,” said Merry.

Merry said he thinks it’s very likely that the ethane cracker plant will be built in Belmont County.