Gov. John Kasich hits the road for Steubenville to deliver State of the State address

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - Steubenville may sit on the far eastern border of Ohio, but on this day it finds itself smack dab in the center of the state’s attention as Gov. John Kasich takes the unprecedented step of delivering his State of the State address roughly 150 miles away from the statehouse.

The governor will highlight the accomplishments of his first year in office and talk about education - his choice of Steubenville’s Wells Academy, the state’s highest testing public elementary school, a clear indication of that storyline.

The other topic sure to surface in the annual address is what lies deep beneath this Jefferson County seat, shale. Steubenville sits in a prime spot above the Marcellus shale and drilling is expected to begin here this spring for the precious fuel that lies beneath.

Along with it comes the promise of jobs in this spot where unemployment reached 15 percent in 2010 and even today nearly 2 percent above the state’s December 8.1 percent average.

The oil and gas industry has estimated that the controversial practice of fracking could mean more than 200,000 jobs for Ohio. Kasich and his team have been busy balancing the state’s interests, with local interests and environmental concerns.

Ohio sits above two huge shale formations, Marcellus and Utica, and companies have already invested several billion of dollars in the state, said Kasich, as they study whether the fuel trapped deep in the rock below us is worth retrieving. In late December, we spoke with the governor about the road ahead when it comes to fracking.

“A lot of good news, companies are investing. I've been to Texas, I've met with 50 to 60 companies down there. We have more good news coming, companies that want to come pipe, pumps, compressors, drillers all that but let's not pop the champagne corks just yet,” the governor cautioned.

That’s because he said there’s a lot to be worked out on both sides. For the companies, there are two issues.

“Is the market such that you can get it up and make money? Because if you can’t you’re not going to drill. Secondly, do we have the technology, particularly to bring up these liquids, which are so valuable,” said Kasich.

While those matters are being determined, he said the state has its own things to consider, something we expect him to drive home in his State of the State. Mainly, who will fill these new jobs?

“One of the big issues that we have is we want Ohioans working in this industry, so we have to train people to do this. The companies are not telling us exactly what we need to do to train our workers,” Kasich said. “So I’m pounding on them tell us so Ohioans can work."

“Secondly, you have to have very strong environmental rules because you can’t afford a misstep," Kasich said. “Thirdly, you’re going to have to have impact fees to help the local governments deal with their infrastructure problems and a severance tax because our severance tax is a little outdated.”

He said the state must find a balance though when it comes to taxes and fees.

“If you tax too much they leave, if you tax too little you’re not going to get your job done,” Kasich said.

Luckily, they have other states to study that have already gone down this road.

“We've learned from Pennsylvania, we've learned from New York's mistakes, we have studied North Dakota we just were involved in looking at Wyoming and the problems they had out there," Kasich said. 

"We have been managing this for 15 months and could this be an incredible good news story for all of Ohio? The answer is yes but we've had people's hopes dashed enough and let’s just take it a day at a time but we feel pretty good."

You can watch today's State of the State Address live on newsnet5.com or using the newsnet5 app.