Overcoming what might be Royal Dutch Shell's most significant regulatory hurdle, the oil and chemicals giant has been granted an air permit by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a potential petrochemical complex in Beaver County.
The company has been mulling a cracker plant to turn ethane found in Appalachian shales into a building block for plastics and other products since 2012. Although it has spent millions of dollars in property acquisitions in Beaver County and funded the demolition of the former Horsehead Holdings Corp. zinc smelter, Shell has yet to make its final decision to build.
That decision could not come without having major environmental permits in hand, the company has previously stressed.
The DEP announced today that along with the air permit, Shell also got its stormwater discharge permit and a water obstruction and encroachment permit.
Kayla Macke, a spokeswoman for Shell, called the air permit a “critical milestone for the project ... that allows Shell to proceed with some preliminary site development work.”
“This preliminary work would allow Shell to maintain or accelerate the project schedule, if we decide to build the facility,” she said.
In the meantime, the company has yet to finalize engineering and design work for the plant and is working to get more ethane suppliers in its feedback portfolio, Ms. Macke said.
Last week, Shell closed its much anticipated purchase of zinc smelter site in Potter. The price on the deed was $13.5 million, although the company is not commenting on the actual amount of money that changed hands.
Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.
First Published: June 22, 2015, 1:33 p.m.
