MARIETTA, Ohio — Despite state employee travel bans in place Wednesday and some corporations implementing new policies to cancel gatherings during growing health concerns over COVID-19, several officials gathered at Buckeye Hills Regional Council in Marietta.

They met to discuss a federal petition concerning the Ohio River’s commerce between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Huntington, West Virginia.

Specifically, they gathered to discuss a gap in targeted reporting of what cargo moves by barge and ferry throughout seven Ohio counties and nine in West Virginia. In that region, from Meigs and Jackson counties to the south and upriver to Hancock and Columbiana counties to the north, 126 terminals are in active use by commerce.

Another 16 are dormant, according to consultant Ron Coles who presented Wednesday on behalf of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

“What we’re proposing would be creating this district for statistical purposes only; it would not grow government or be imposing another layer of restrictions,” Coles said.

The process of designating the 219.8 river miles between the ports of Pittsburgh district and the ports of Huntington District is at the grassroots step, he added.

“We need your letters or resolutions of support; this is not a designation that can be made top-down,” Coles said.

But it’s a designation that, if totaled, would place the region at the top of inland waterway commerce lists in the nation, he said.

“And that’s a tool in your toolbox,” he continued.

Buckeye Hills Development Director Bret Allphin said having the statistics explicitly tallied for the Ohio River valley between the metropolitan areas of Huntington and Pittsburgh would also bolster knowledge base about the assets of the region.

“I don’t think we fully understand the commercial value of our river. I don’t think we ever have,” Allphin said. “Right now, when a business calls me and asks what’s moving on our river, the answer we’ve had to give is we don’t know.”

Private port owners in the room asked how the data would be used. Coles replied that confidentiality for private businesses would be maintained while allowing for totals across the region to be marketed and used as asset leveraging for maritime grants.

The Long Ridge Energy Terminal in Hannibal also was represented at the meeting, as was the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District, the Marietta city development office and the Columbiana County Port Authority.

Port Authority Executive Director Penny Traina said Wednesday that the move to work together both downriver in the Ohio counties but also across the river into West Virginia was a significant positive step.

She pointed to the power of partnership not only helping Columbiana and Washington counties as the two locations with the most actively operating terminal in the 16-county proposed region, but also how it could bolster the region as a whole.

“That’s huge,” she said. “If we can work together to get this designation and get our area-specific data tracked, it helps tell the story on the Ohio River. … Not only with the shale play and building going on in Beaver County, but as that opens up the opportunity for another six petrochemical plants downriver.”

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data presented by Coles, Columbiana County has four general-purpose and 14 special-purpose terminals in productive use on the Ohio River at present, which moved 2.3 million tons of cargo in 2018.

Likewise, Washington County has two general-purpose and 17 special-purpose terminals set up along the western bank of the Ohio River, which produced 2.2 million tons of cargo in 2018.

By comparison, the USACE reported that Wood County, West Virginia, has two general-purpose and nine special-purpose terminals operating to date on the western bank of the river, which in 2018 moved 1 million tons of cargo.

Companies and governing bodies with further questions about the jurisdiction should contact Mark Locker with the Ohio Department of Transportation at mark.locker@dot.ohio.gov.