PA Environment Digest Blog: Beaver County Residents Tell DEP To Enforce Existing Shell Petrochemical Plant Air Pollution Limits, Not Give Them A New Permit Increasing Pollution

On April 7, the Department of Environmental Protection held a hearing on an Air Quality Plan Approval covering ethylene and air pollution controls on ground flares, the wastewater treatment plant and as-built air pollution controls at the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Potter and Center Townships, Beaver County where about 70 people testified.

Workers at the plant, local business owners and politicians testified first for several hours and primarily talked about the jobs and economic benefits of the petrochemical plant.

Among the issues raised by Beaver County residents concerned about the ongoing environmental and health impacts of the petrochemical plant and covered by the draft DEP permit were--

-- Shell Noncompliance: DEP must not issue this plan approval permit due to Shell’s severe, ongoing noncompliance with air pollution control laws.

-- Shell Generates 5+ Times The Allowed Benzene Waste: For years, Shell has been generating benzene waste in amounts that violate Shell’s existing permit limit of 11 tons per year by generating up to 60 tons of benzene waste annually.

-- Permanent Benzene Monitoring: The draft Plan Approval must require Shell to permanently operate the existing fenceline monitoring systems for benzene, and other pollutants of concern, to alert and protect local residents from dangerous releases.

-- Ban On Using Pyrolysis Oil As Feedstock: DEP should not allow pyrolysis oil to be used by Shell as feedstock. [Pyrolysis oil is typically made from end-of-life plastic waste that is typically destined for landfills or incineration and produced by heating plastic to high temperatures causing the materials to break down.]

-- Set Testing, Reporting For Each Sour Of Air Pollution: The draft permit must include each requirement that applies to each source and require monitoring, testing, record keeping, and reporting requirements sufficient to demonstrate compliance with all permit limits.

-- Set Requirements For Each Flare: The draft permit must be revised to ensure that the permit includes all applicable requirements for each flare.

-- Hold 2nd Public Meeting Without Prescreened Written Questions From Public: DEP should hold a second Community Meeting that: (1) Provides opportunities for live, unscreened public questions; (2) Ensures transparency by allowing attendees’ to hear all questions asked at one microphone; (3) Creates enough time and space for meaningful dialogue between community members and the DEP staff present.

Visit DEP’s Shell Petrochemical Plant webpage for information on permits, inspections and other background on the facility.

Citizen Comments

Here are some examples of citizen comments offered at the hearing about environmental and health issues covered in the draft DEP Air Quality Plan Approval.

Hilary Starcher-O’Toole, Beaver County resident, a mother and representative of the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community--

I want to speak directly to the requirements of Shell’s Plan Approval D draft permit.

This permit is only as protective as its ability to be enforced. We should not even be here, discussing the option of another permit when the existing permits this facility has are repeatedly violated.

However, here we are. So I am forced to put what’s missing from this plan approval D in my comments this evening to ensure they’re not overlooked.

I’m requesting every requirement that applies to each flare is clearly stated or explicitly incorporated into the permit to ensure compliance and maximum transparency.

This should include all monitoring, testing, recordkeeping, and reporting that is strong enough to demonstrate compliance.

Currently, there is no plan for monitoring, or testing each flare included in this permit.

This is a major concern.

If monitoring is too limited, if testing is too infrequent, or if reporting is not transparent and accessible, then this presents opportunities for malfunctions to go undetected.

Communities like mine are left relying on trust instead of data—and that is not acceptable when our health is on the line.

This is especially critical when we are talking about hazardous air pollutants like benzene.

Benzene is not just another emission. It is a known carcinogen. There is no safe level of exposure, particularly for children and families who are already living near industrial facilities.

Because of that, I want to be very clear:

Benzene waste emissions must not increase in any way.

Keeping benzene waste under 11 tons per year should be treated as a strict cap—not a threshold to approach, and certainly not something to expand.

In a community already burdened by pollution, even small increases matter. They add up in our air, in our homes, and in our bodies over time. And once breathed in, Benzene doesn’t ever leave our bodies.

Long term exposure, which is what we’re talking about- a permit for benzene waste that can be emitted into the air- is heavily linked to Leukemia and Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

That’s why benzene is a known human carcinogen.

Why is there a consideration for a permit that allows more of this in Monaca? In Beaver? In Center Township? In Aliquippa.

As a mother, I think about what that means for my children—the air they breathe every day, the long-term health risks they didn’t choose, and the reality that they are more vulnerable to these exposures than adults.

We should not be normalizing preventable exposure to a known carcinogen.

If anything, the goal should be reduction—not maintaining or increasing current levels.

So I urge the Department to strengthen this permit by:

-- Ensuring comprehensive, enforceable monitoring and reporting for all emission sources

-- Providing transparency so the public can access the compliance data

-- And maintaining a firm, non-negotiable limit on benzene waste emissions, with no increases permitted

Our community deserves more than assurances. We deserve protections that are clear, enforceable, and centered on public health.

Thank you.

Sister Kari Pohl of the Sisters Of St. Joseph Of Baden, Rochester, Beaver County offered these comments--

My name is Kari Pohl and I'm a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, PA-- a congregation of women religious within the Roman Catholic faith tradition.

While we were founded in Ebensburg, we have been based in Beaver County since 1901- 2026 marked 125 years here.

I'm here to comment on PA DEP's Plan Approval PA-04-0074OD.

As you know, in May 2023, Shell was fined $10 million and entered into a consent agreement with the PA DEP, acknowledging permit violations involving volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and other hazardous air pollutants.

Since then , it has continued to commit permit violations involving these hazardous air pollutants-- including several already in 2026.

Rather than issuing and approving additional permits, I would like to see the PA DEP enforce existing permits, including and not limited to, placing the Shell Polymers Monaca site's "violation(s) or lack of intention or ability to comply" onto the PA DEP compliance docket.

In his encyclical Laudatory Si', Pope Francis referred to the problem of pollution by observing that, "technology, which, linked to business interests, is presented as the only way of solving these problems, in fact proves incapable of seeing the mysterious network of relations between things and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others."

I can't help but wonder if this isn't what is happening with this permit application, which proposes that a water pollution problem can be decreased only by exacerbating an air pollution problem.

Please prioritize the health and safety of Pennsylvanians by strictly enforcing the permits that you issue and applying the maximum penalties for non-compliance.

Thank you, Sr. Kari Pohl, Rochester, PA

Debra Smit, Director of Communications. Breathe Project in Southwest Pennsylvania--

We all deserve to live in a community where the air we breathe, water we drink and place we call home do not increase the risks of cancer, heart disease, asthma, respiratory illnesses or lifelong harm from air pollution.

In December 2016, I attended the DEP hearing on Shell’s proposed petrochemical plant.

At that time, more than 100 residents stood here and raised serious concerns about allowing Shell to further pollute their air and contaminate their water.

Nearly ten years later, we are here again. These concerns have not only persisted. They have intensified.

First, Shell has repeatedly operated in violation of the Clean Air Act. During the commissioning period, emissions exceeded permitted limits, including nitrogen oxide and hazardous air pollutants.

Most concerning is benzene—a known human carcinogen—for which there is no safe level of exposure.

Shell’s permit allows 11 tons per year, yet reported emissions have reached as high as 60 tons annually. DEP must require compliance with the originally permitted limits.

Second, the pattern of Notices of Violation and malfunction reports demonstrates systemic operational failures—not isolated incidents. These include flaring events, equipment breakdowns and uncontrolled releases.

Continuous, real-time fenceline monitoring that includes a hazardous air pollutants must be required to protect nearby communities.

Third, Shell keeps moving the goalposts on permits, seeking to increase allowable emissions after failing to meet existing limits.

The plan approval permits were meant to be temporary, 1-year allowances to get the plant operating. Instead they have been used over 5 years after the plant started operating.

The DEP has the authority—and the obligation—to require the cessation of unlawful operations and demand enforceable, transparent limits in an operating permit.

Fourth, proposed increases in emissions—including nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, from 2.3 to 2.6 million tons annually—must be denied. These increases would worsen climate impacts.

Fifth, DEP should deny the use of pyrolysis oil as a feedstock, due to increased risk of toxic emissions.

Sixth, flaring must be addressed as a major source of pollution.

While flares are designed to destroy hazardous compounds, when they malfunction, they release fine particulate matter and toxic pollutants including benzene, formaldehyde and heavy metals.

The question is simple: Why should DEP accommodate a company that has not demonstrated the ability—or willingness—to comply with existing air pollution permit limits?

What does the community get? Based on economic study (by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis), revenue for Shell’s chemical business has fallen sharply, the outlook for the plastics industry is bleak and Shell Polymers is looking to sell the Monaca Plastic Plant.

It’s very unclear what the future would hold if Shell does sell off to another company.

The Clean Air Act, however, is clear. Limits must be met—not renegotiated after the fact.

For these reasons, Breathe Project is requesting the DEP deny this draft Plan Approval D and rein in Shell Polymers to follow the law.

Other Groups

Here are key points raised by other individuals and groups at the hearing--

“My doctor called me a canary in a coal mine,” said Beaver County resident Brooke Hamberger who has experienced health-related symptoms correlated to Shell’s flaring events. “The proposed permit would raise the allowable limits of dangerous gases and particulate matter. Why would we accept even more toxic emissions? We need greater transparency on the health impacts of what Shell is already putting into our air.”

“The DEP is encouraged to measure the history of Shell’s violations against the integrity of the petrochemical industry,” said Beaver County resident EJ Pavlinich. “There is no guarantee they will operate within these newly expanded limitations that guarantee even greater pollution — and thus greater health risks. Stop protecting polluters and start protecting Pennsylvanians.”

"Shell Polymers Monaca already has a history of exceeding its pollution limits, which represent increased health risks for nearby communities. Its previous violations include excess emissions of known human carcinogens, including benzene," said Environmental Health Project Executive Director, Alison L. Steele. "If this Title V permit is issued, we can expect more emissions—and more health risks—as a result of higher pollution limits."

“Any approval of Shell’s air quality permit is an approval for Shell to keep polluting Beaver County, rubber-stamped by Shapiro’s DEP. Residents are breathing hazardous chemicals on a daily basis as Shell violates environmental regulations time and time again without serious repercussions — we’ve had enough,” said Food & Water Watch Western Pennsylvania Organizer David Pfister. “The governor and his regulators must prioritize our communities' health above the petrochemical industry by denying air quality permits for Shell’s cracker plant.”

Resource Links:

-- The Allegheny Front: DEP Proposes Shell Petrochemical Plant Air Permit With Higher Emission Limits In Beaver County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Fire Resulted In Possible Release Of An Unknown Quantity Of 1,3-Butadiene And Benzene Into The Atmosphere In Beaver County [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance: Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Released 17.9 Billion Pounds Of Air Pollution Since It Began Operation, During 80 Malfunctions, 43 Violation Episodes [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]

-- DEP: $5 Million In Grants Recommended To Support Mitigation Projects In Beaver County Related To Shell Petrochemical Plant Environmental Violations + Shell Paid Total Penalties Of $7,606,027.75 [PaEN]

-- Shell Falcon Pipeline LP Pleads No Contest To Criminal Charges For Violating The State Clean Streams Law In Allegheny, Beaver, Washington Counties; Will Pay $300,000 In Penalties [PaEN]

-- Environmental Groups File Notice Of Intent To Sue The Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County For Air Pollution Violations: Similar Action In 2023 Resulted In $10 Million Settlement [PaEN]

-- Western PA Residents Comment After A Year Of Shell Petrochemical Plant Operations [PaEN]

-- PA Taxpayers To Give $130.9 Million In Tax Credits To Subsidize Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County; Total Expected To Be $1.17 Billion Thru 2042; No Regard For Environmental Compliance Record [PaEN]

-- 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]