Shell Chemical Plant in Beaver is Sued Again
One may be starting to wonder what is exactly in store for South West Pennsylvania?
From
A Beaver County man is suing Shell Chemical over pollution he says its ethylene cracker plant is spewing onto his property.
The complaint, filed by John Flynn, who lives in Beaver, was filed Thursday in federal court and seeks class-action status.
The suit follows another brought in May against Shell by the Clean Air Council. That lawsuit alleged that that Shell is violating the federal Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act, and therefore harming the health of those “who live, go to school, recreate and work near the plant.”
The sprawling, multibillion-dollar cracker plant, which opened in 2019 in Potter Township, uses ethane, a natural gas product, to produce polyethylene, a common type of plastic.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said that Shell exceeded its emission limitations repeatedly between October 2022 and April 2023, and also had flaring violations for bad smells coming from the plant.
In May, Pennsylvania officials announced a settlement with Shell Chemicals Appalachia in which the company acknowledged it had exceeded emission limits for air contaminants.
As part of the settlement, Shell agreed to pay a civil penalty of $4.9 million, with 25% of that going to local communities.
Shell is also required to spend $5 million for environmental projects to benefit local areas.
But the complaint filed this week alleges that the plant continues to pollute the community around it.
Since the settlement, the lawsuit said, more than 75 people have contacted the law firm representing Flynn to complain about the nuisance created by the emissions.