Pennsylvania Leads U.S. Northeast Region with $41 Billion in Industrial Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In Pennsylvania, there are more than 390 active industrial projects totaling $41 billion, according to Industrial Info's North America Industrial Project Database. The top ten counties account for about 75% of all industrial project activity in the state by value.

Click on the image at right to view a breakdown of Pennsylvania industrial project activity by county.

The state is dominated by projects in the Power Generation, Metals & Minerals and Oil & Gas industries. The Marcellus Shale is driving oil & gas development in the state in the form of pipeline and processing plant construction, as well as downstream petrochemical development such as plans for ethylene cracker by Shell Chemical Company.

Columbia County is on top of the list mainly because PPL Nuclear Development LLC, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), plans to build a new 1,600-megawatt nuclear reactor known as the Bell Bend Nuclear Power Station in Berwick, Pennsylvania adjacent to the existing Susquehanna Nuclear Station. Studies for construction of a nuclear power plant at the site have been underway since 2007, and the company is currently going through the necessary licensing and permitting process. Construction is not scheduled to begin until 2017 at the earliest.

Allegheny County is second on the list with 31 projects totaling more than $4 billion. Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is underway with construction of a new 84" hot-strip mill addition at the Brackenridge Specialty Steel Mill. The $1.6-billion project, known as the L Patrick Hassey Hot Rolling & Processing Facility, will be commissioned in 2014. Also in Allegheny County, U.S. Steel is spending $500 million to replace a metallurgical coke battery and environmental retrofits. Rounding out the top ten county list after Columbia and Allegheny are Beaver with $1.8 billion, Westmoreland $1.6 billion, Washington $1.5 billion, Blair $1.5 billion, York $1.3 billion, Philadelphia $1.2 billion, Bradford $1.1 billion and Lycoming $1 billion.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.