Contact:
Carl Marrara
717-232-0737
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PMA RELEASES ECONOMIC STUDY URGING PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT TO ATTRACT POLYPROPYLENE MANUFACTURING
Harrisburg, PA – (January 15, 2019) The Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association (PMA) released an economic study to quantify the impact of a large polypropylene manufacturing facility expansion in Southeast Pennsylvania.
In 2016, Braskem USA announced a major investment in La Porte, Texas instead of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania because of a lack of pipeline capacity in Delaware County for natural gas liquids (NGLs). However, Braskem USA indicated that future investment in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania was possible with enhanced infrastructure development.
“We often say that we can’t miss what we never had, but with economic modeling we can now quantify what an energy enabled economy actually means,” said David N. Taylor, President & CEO of PMA. “It’s not just about the jobs building the site or the initial $675 million investment for the plant expansion – it’s about the indirect and induced jobs that would uphold, sustain, and support the construction and the expanded manufacturing activity throughout the entire Southeast Pennsylvania region.”
An expanded polypropylene manufacturing facility in Marcus Hook, Delaware County means an initial investment of $675,000,000.00, 1,000 construction jobs over a two-year period, and an additional 50 full-time jobs at the plant in perpetuity. The economic impact of this initial investment, the support of the 1,000 construction jobs over two years, the 50 permanent plastics and resins manufacturing jobs, and the indirect and induced jobs that support this expanded economic activity totals more than $1,000,000,000.00 in less than five years. This economic activity does not include upstream jobs and materials to build necessary pipeline infrastructure or downstream plastic products manufacturing and/or complimentary manufacturing activity that will occur with the availability of affordable and abundant polypropylene products.
“The multiplier effect from a facility like this that is beyond measure. For example, this facility could manufacture yogurt containers and that activity could be transformative for Pennsylvania’s dairy industry and the overall agricultural sector,” said Taylor. “That’s just one example of a single product that could find its foundational footprint in Pennsylvania. From yogurt cups, to bottle caps, to prescription bottles, it is this downstream activity that presents the truly transformative economic opportunity for the entire region. The opportunities are endless, but the lack of pipeline infrastructure in Southeast Pennsylvania renders the area unattractive to investors for future projects such as this one.”
To read the full study, click HERE.
About the PMA
Founded in 1909 by Bucks County industrialist Joseph Grundy, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association is the Harrisburg-based statewide nonprofit trade organization representing the manufacturing sector in Pennsylvania’s public process. We are the statewide, nonprofit trade organization that represents the people who make things here in our commonwealth; generating over $82 billion annually in gross state product, directly employing 570,000 hardworking Pennsylvanians on the plant floor, and sustaining millions of additional Pennsylvania jobs through supply chains, distribution networks, and vendors of industrial services. For more information, including our mission, vision, and staff information, please visit our website at www.pamanufacturers.com.