Shell Chemical picks PA site for massive plant
"Another phase" closer to saying Yes
Shell Chemical picks PA site for massive plant
Joseph N. DiStefano
Shell Chemical LP says it "signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corporation to evaluate a site" near Monaca, Beaver County, north of Pittsburgh, for "a potential petrochemical complex" including "an ethane cracker that would upgrade locally produced ethane from Marcellus Shale gas production." The plant, if it gets built, will be an extensive long-term investment that would help create thousands of long-term industrial jobs, improving on the short-term drilling jobs that recent gas production has brought to parts of depressed Northern and Western Pennsylvania.
The committment, which PA Gov. Tom Corbett has been courting in competition with sites in Ohio and West Virginia, marks "another phase" of Shell's site investigation. Still to come: "additional environmental analysis... further engineering design studies, assessment of the local ethane supply, and continued evaluation of the economic viability of the project."
Shell considered access to natural gas, "water, road and rail transportation infrastructure, power grids, economics, and sufficient acreage to accommodate facilities for a world scale petrochemical complex and potential future expansions." Didn't mention tax or regulatory regimes.
"In addition to an ethane cracker, Shell is also considering polyethylene (PE) and mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) units to help meet increasing demands in the North American market" for use by industry in the Northeast US. Statement here. Update: $1 billion investment, 10,000 jobs, Corbett tells Post-Gazette. More here.
Wait, wait, wait... Now... The noise you hear is environmental nut cases objecting to this project. And the hell with a possibility of many new jobs in PA.— hollandpa
These jobs will be good jobs because the EPA will require the necessary controls on pollution release. Brand new facilities are designed with environmental issues because it is the law. And right wing sex police don't want anyone breaking any commandments er laws of the land.
Shame is Shell is not a US company. Means the profits go to the home country (Netherlands) and not the US.
hollandpa: If shell builds a state of the art plant and complies with environmental rules and engages the impacted communities in the development process then those environment nut cases have nothing to object to.
Kudos to those nut cases for advocating for the environment. There are too many nut cases who don't care about the environment. There are too many nut cases who don't recognize the social and FISCAL contribution PA's wilderness make to employment and tax revenues (2nd right behind agriculture). If Shell can acknowledge, along with all the morons in the capitol (that's everybody), that PA is recognized as having the BEST MANAGED WILDERNESS IN THE USA. And that is management that includes allowance for coal mining, logging and gas extraction.
Like I said, if Shell respects the people, the communities and the rules then any objections will be weakened and made lame.— nebulus- Corbett is boasting about this new plant in western PA while sitting on the sidelines as the Delaware Valley's century old petro-chemical plants are on life-support. Meanwhile his assault on public education is taking millions of dollars away from local universities and he's doing nothing about our aging public infrastructure and transportation needs. Why anyone in the Delaware Valley supports this guy is a mystery to me.— CoolZanna
