Alpont

Pennsylvania-based Alpont LLC, a subsidiary of Interstate Chemical Company, wanted to expand to better serve its customers in Canada and in the Midwest. The company originally considered sites in Pennsylvania, but ultimately found that Ohio offered the advantages it was seeking.

Founded in 1968, Alpont manufactures, stores and distributes industrial and specialty chemicals. The company runs a laboratory to analyze and evaluate product quality, operates 16 terminals and warehouse facilities, and manages a fleet of more than 200 trucks, trailers and tankers.

Alpont needed a site for a new manufacturing plant to produce methanol and sodium methylate. Company executives needed a location with easy access to both customers and a large supply of low-cost natural gas.

After considering locations in Pennsylvania, company officials decided to look in Ohio. In early 2016, they contacted the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) in search of an appropriate site. RGP brought in JobsOhio, and together, they found a location in Oregon, just east of Toledo across the Maumee River, that proved to be a perfect fit.

The site gives company executives the proximity they want to key customers and major markets. It also offers a stable electrical supply and access to a brand-new, high-pressure gas pipeline that feeds from the Oregon Clean Energy Power Plant, which will become operational in the summer of 2017.

As Alpont executives evaluated the site, the Ohio EPA worked closely with the company, RGP and JobsOhio to permit the plant in a timely manner. While the state’s abundant supply of natural gas initially attracted Interstate Chemical, another factor also played a role in helping the company select Ohio: the cooperation of local and state agencies to find and develop a site that enables the company to get up and running quickly.