Shell’s Falcon Pipeline would run through Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, transporting the ethane necessary to fuel the cracker plant its building in Western, PA. The cracker creates ethylene, which is used in manufacturing plastics.
The state extended the public comment period for the pipeline after environmental groups asked for more time to review the pipeline’s impact on waterways and local communities.
The request comes a few weeks after the state shut down another pipeline project due to repeated permit violations, including more than 60 spills along its route.
Shell’s ethane cracker is scheduled to begin construction later this year. Many in the region worry what impact the plant--and others that might be built in the future--will have on the region’s air.
Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker in Beaver County could be the first of several large chemical plants in the region. That’s because there’s enough ethane being produced to provide the chemical industry with the raw material without any additional drilling.
If a petrochemical boom is heading to western Pennsylvania — as it now appears to be — there are some big lessons we can learn from residents living in the shadow of Louisiana's "Chemical Corridor."