PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The mayors, economic development leaders and police chiefs of the Mid-Ohio Valley have two full days of meetings beginning Monday with various individuals and organizations in Minot, North Dakota in hopes of learning how to handle a major influx of workers if the ethane cracker plant is built near Parkersburg.
“We have an agenda that’s pretty packed,” Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell told MetroNews.
Newell along with mayors from Vienna, Belpre, Ohio, and Marietta, Ohio, and several other officials flew to North Dakota Sunday. The meetings will take place Monday and Tuesday.
Why Minot?
The area is the site of a shale drilling boom where thousands of workers have descended in recent years.
“We want to learn how they were able to cope with the housing shortage that they had and the sudden strain on their city resources,” Mayor Newell said.
Minot’s population grew by nearly 12 percent between 2000 and 2010, more than 4,000 new residents. An ethane cracker could bring thousands of construction workers to the Parkersburg area. Newell said that would impact housing, restaurants, schools and emergency services.
Newell said he got the idea of the visit after speaking with an official from Odebrecht, the company that’s studying the possibility of the cracker plant, called the ASCENT project.
“I asked him, ‘We hear there are a lot of people coming. What can we expect?’ Newell said. “He said, ‘You can expect your lives to change for the next 30 years.'”
The North Dakota trip will include a number of meetings and 15 site visits. The group is scheduled to travel home Wednesday.