DEP Extends Air Quality Permits For Temporary Operation Of Shell Petrochemical Plant; No Schedule Posted Yet For Considering Full Title V Air Quality Permit

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the October 26, 2024 PA Bulletin extending the three Air Quality Permits needed for the temporary operation of the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County until a full Title V Air Quality Permit can be put in place.  (PA Bulletin, page 6791-6792)

The request from Shell to extend the permits was received on September 13, 2024 and approved on October 9, 2024, according to the DEP notices.

DEP last extended the permits on May 25.  Read more here.

No Schedule Yet For Title V Permit

Shell submitted the Title V application for the Petrochemical Plant on June 19 as a result of a request from DEP on February 22 to submit a full Title V permit.  Read more here.

DEP accepted the application as administratively complete on July 2 and posted the application on its Shell Petrochemical Facility webpage.  Read more here.

DEP has not yet published a notice of a complete application nor opened an initial public review period for the application.

DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice has also been engaged with this facility since a $10 million penalty agreement was signed with Shell in May 2023 covering air quality violations at the facility.  Read more here.

Stay tuned to DEP’s Shell Petrochemical Facility webpage for more information on public review of the Title V application.

NewsClip:

--  Energy Age Blog: Shell Petrochemical Complex In Beaver County Fully Operational

Resource Links - Shell Petrochemical Plant:

-- No Decision Posted Yet From DEP On Whether Flare Gas Chemical Makeup, Volume At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Is Confidential Business Information  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Title V Air Quality Permit Application Complete, Now Posted On DEP's Website; Comment Period Opening Soon [PaEN]

-- DEP Signs Consent Order Including $10 Million In Penalties, Local Payments With Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County To Resolve Air Quality Violations; Plant To Restart May 24  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Pays Additional $2,671,044.75 In Civil Penalties For 12-Month Air Quality Violations After May 2023 Consent Order  [PaEN]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Ready For Prime Time; But It Has An Achilles’ Heel- No Natural Gas Liquids Storage  [PDF of Article] 

Oil & Gas - National Debate

-- NY Post: Fracking Could Decide The Election In Pennsylvania And Nationwide

-- Wall Street Journal Guest Essay: Fracking Isn’t As Popular (Or Important) In Pennsylvania As You Think; The Truth For Residents Is More Complicated  [PDF of Article]  - By Colin Jerolmack, Author Of Up To Heaven And Down To Hell and Sean O’Leary, Ohio River Valley Institute

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Range Resources Marks 20th Anniversary Of First Marcellus Shale Well  [PDF of Article]

Related Articles:

-- Environmental, Health Groups Submit Petition To Environmental Quality Board For More Protective Setbacks From Shale Gas Wells For Schools, Daycares, Hospitals, Buildings, Drinking Water Wells, Surface Water  [PaEN] 

-- Baker Hughes: PA Natural Gas Drilling Rig Count Down To 12, Lowest In More Than 17 Years; Community Support Drops; Big Hole In DEP Budget  [PaEN]   

-- Dr. Susan L. Brantley Named A Distinguished Daughter Of Pennsylvania For Her Research On Water, Geology And The Environmental Impacts Of Natural Gas, Oil Extraction  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Plugs Conventional Gas Well Orphaned By The Well Owner That Contaminated A Clarion County Family's Drinking Water Well; Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Continue To Abandoned Their Wells - 767 Violations So Far In 2024 - 2 New Plugging Grant Programs   [PaEN] 

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approved, Renewed 20 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use General Permits In September; 232 General Permits So Far In 2024  [PaEN]  

-- EDF: New Report Shows 22% Growth In PA's Oil & Gas Methane Emissions Mitigation Industry In 3 Years  [PaEN] 

-- Sierra Club PA Hosts Oct. 30 Webinar - It’s Scary Out Here! How Oil & Gas Waste Haunts Pennsylvania  [PaEN] 

-- PJM CEO Expresses Concern About Electric Generating Capacity: Higher Prices Have Incentivized Some Generators, But Building Gas Generators Has Slowed, Permitting, Supply Chain Issues Hamper Renewables  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- The Guardian: Fracking’s Return Stirs Fury In Pennsylvania Town Whose Water Turned Toxic   [Dimock, Susquehanna County]

-- WITF StateImpactPA - Susan Phillips: Fracking In Pennsylvania Hasn’t Gone As Well As Some May Think

-- ExploreClarion.com: DEP Plugs Conventional Gas Well That Contaminated Vowinckel Family’s Drinking Water In Clarion County

-- NPR: States Work To Track Down, Cap Dangerous Methane Leaks From Conventional Oil, Gas Wells Abandoned By Their Owners [Allegheny National Forest]

-- City & State NY: The Fate Of State’s Conventional Oil/Gas Wells Abandoned By Their Owners May Depend On The Presidential Election [New York, Pennsylvania]

-- TribLive: Murrysville Council Denies Citizen Petition To Rescind Oil And Gas Leases Under Park Land In Westmoreland County  

-- US DOT Announces $196 Million In Grants To Replace Aging Natural Gas Pipes, Cut Methane Emissions, Including $40 Million To Philadelphia Gas Works

-- WHYY: Philadelphia Gas Works Gets Federal Money To Replace Aging Natural Gas Mains

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Ready For Prime Time; But It Has An Achilles’ Heel- No Natural Gas Liquids Storage  [PDF of Article] 

[Posted: October 25, 2024]  PA Environment Digest