This page was last updated on December 23, 2016.
Cracker plant will turn Beaver into Stinkville; Thomas Loxley; Beaver County Times; December 19, 2016.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“As a senior engineer, I’m worried about placing the world’s largest ethane cracker plant directly upwind of Beaver.”
[RWC] I am an engineer and “senior” as part of “senior engineer” means nothing. It’s simply part of the title ladder a company uses for a position. For example, a ladder may call for an employee to start with a title of “Engineer” then get promoted to “Senior Engineer” after two years.
The Shell facility won’t be “the world’s largest ethane cracker plant.” Though large, there are multiple domestic and foreign crackers already in operation with capacities equal to or greater than Shell’s Potter cracker (1.5 to 1.6 million tons per annum) will have. I would expect “a senior engineer” to find this during his research. I wonder what/who were his info sources.
“Eager to get into the deep pockets of Shell Oil, local politicians and profiteers have apparently lost all common sense. Things are set to put this foul-smelling behemoth into a geological trough containing Vanport Township, Beaver and Bridgewater. Residents should note that they are surrounded by hills associated with local bends in the Ohio River.
“The toxic emissions, including benzene, are heavier than air and will naturally fall downwind into Vanport and Beaver. The state Department of Environmental Protection assumed these fumes will be dissipated over a broad horizon, then they will actually be directed into the adjacent communities inside this trough. Given certain weather conditions, periodic buildups of these dangerous fumes are bound to be created. Years ago, thermal inversions trapped toxic fumes in Donora, Pa., and in London, killing thousands.”
[RWC] The 1948 Donora smog event killed 20 persons.
“Today, half of Beaver residents are elderly, and many have breathing problems. They are also bound to be offended when visitors start calling their town Stinkville.”
[RWC] What happened to “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me?”
“Those saying the cracker plant is a done deal are wrong. Shell was baited into the area with the idea of getting big tax write-offs for rehabilitating the old zinc smelter site. To Shell accountants, this was a real gift, considering its massive profitability. If they now bail out for a safer location, already prepared in West Virginia, they still enjoy those write-offs. They’d have no trouble selling the finished site to a more appropriately suited industry.”
[RWC] TL referred to “a safer location, already prepared in West Virginia.” The location is Dilles Bottom, Ohio, not WV. The final decision by PTT Global Chemicals (Thailand-based) isn’t expected until late-March 2017.
As the Potter site TL dislikes so much, Dilles Bottom is located in the Ohio River Valley. TL didn’t say why he thinks the Ohio site is “a safer location.” WV is downwind of Dilles Bottom and is full of valleys.
A Parkersburg, WV, site farther down the Ohio is under consideration but it remains in the planning stage.
TL claims Shell would “have no trouble selling the finished site to a more appropriately suited industry.” I don’t know what the final cost of the site prep will be, but you don’t have to be “a senior engineer” to know it will be huge. I’ll go out on a limb and guess anyone who could afford to buy the finished site, TL would not consider “a more appropriately suited industry.”
TL seems to know a lot about Shell’s accounting; I wish he had shared that data with us.
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