Psst: Don’t tell anybody, but the worst-kept secret in Pennsylvania is that the natural gas industry—the only economic salvation our dying state had—is leaving, and being replaced by job loss, budget holes and despair. Instead of experiencing a booming economy rooted in the rebirth of American manufacturing, Pennsylvania is now witness to yet another long exodus of our best and brightest. And the Commonwealth’s march toward permanent mediocrity is accelerating.

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series on how retooled refineries can save jobs and revitalize manufacturing. See Chris Freind's "We Can Save Philadelphia’s Sunoco Refinery Jobs," here. “You are right … finding middle-class wages here in Pennsylvania is challenging if not impossible. The blood, sweat and tears of years planning and building our dream home only to sell it in a bad housing market is like adding salt to the wound.” This heartbreaking message was sent by a distraught wife of a 19-year Sunoco refinery worker, as that company’s two refineries (Philadelphia and Marcus Hook) are slated for closing, as is the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Delaware County, if no buyers are found. Making the sin mortal, there are reports that the ConocoPhillips plant might be dismantled, shipped overseas, and resurrected in a foreign—potentially adversarial—country. But this is nothing new, as America’s abandonment of its manufacturing base has often included shipping entire facilities overseas for the benefit of our competitors.