Towering twin energy projects produce optimism

Imagine if you will an economic-development stimulant for the Mahoning Valley closing in on $1 billion in investment, creating upward of 600 jobs and giving the region an economic jolt of $30 billion over the next three decades.

Now multiply that exhilarating data by two. The resulting product represents today’s reality in the village of Lordstown in the form of towering twin clean-energy projects.

Earlier this week, officials of Clean Energy Future formally announced their plans to construct the $890 million Trumbull Energy Center, a mammoth plant to convert clean natural gas into electricity. It will be located on a site adjacent to the Lordstown Energy Center now under construction on Henn Hyde Parkway in the booming Lordstown Industrial Park.

The two plants essentially will be mirror images of each other with combined ability to generate power for a whopping 1.7 million Ohio homes and businesses.

The $2 billion investment bodes well for the short- and long-term futures of the Valley’s growing energy sector. The investments also reinforce lessons of our region’s natural and geophysical assets that continue to serve as foundations for continued economic-development growth.

To boot, it signals optimism toward a stronger rebound in drilling for natural gas in coming months and years in our region’s rich Utica Shale.

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We tip our hats to Clean Energy Future for its strong faith in the Mahoning Valley and its work force to carry these behemoth projects to the finish line. Also deserving recognition is the Siemens USA Corp. – a company that until recently was led by Mahoning Valley native Eric A. Spiegel – for its expertise and partnering to design and construct the facilities.

We also commend the cooperation among Clean Energy, Siemens, local government, school district, county and state entities in planning, tweaking and structuring the many zoning, construction and tax-incentive details of the complex and high-stakes projects.

That work will pay off handsomely to the village and the Valley.

For Lordstown, the dual investment represents an approximate additional $2 million in income taxes to support village operations, coming at a time when the village will lose a good chunk of such revenue from about 1,200 General Motors workers who are about to lose their jobs at the end of next week.

For Lordstown schools, the developments represent, in the words of Superintendent Terry Armstrong, “a game changer.” The district has benefited from direct funding for school improvements , and the new investment will buffer the the loss of tangible personal property tax revenue from the state.

For the cash-strapped nearby city of Warren, the new plants represent about $4 million in additional annual revenue from providing water to fuel the operations and an additional $1 million for treating their wastewater.

Collectively, these two projects , not to mention a similar $1 billion Advanced Power Services plant under construction in Wellsville in Columbiana County, are solidifying a regional and national identity for the Mahoning Valley as a center for the growing clean-energy industry to build and thrive.