Green oil recycler opens plant in northeast Ohio

The United States' first plant with the capacity to recycle used transformer oil opened this week in northeastern Ohio, bringing some coveted green jobs to an area that has lost many industrial jobs.

The Hydrodec plant has the capacity to recycle 8 million gallons of transformer oil each year. Transformer oil insulates and cools transformers, which switch electrical supply from low to high voltage for transmission over long distances.

"There isn't anyone else out there that can do what we do," said John Cowan, president of Hydrodec North America, a subsidiary of London-based Hydrodec Group Plc.

The plant removes contaminants in a …