Plastic Bottles of Water are Symbolic
Governor’s Trip to Brazil to Focus on Ethane Cracker Plant
From an Article by Ashton Marra, WV Public Broadcasting, November 6, 2014
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced November 6th he will lead a trade mission to Brazil this week to continue talks with two companies who plan to bring an ethane cracker to the state. Tomblin and members of the West Virginia Development Office will meet with executives from Odebrecht and Braskem while on the four day trip to the South American country, focusing on the next steps for Project ASCENT.
ASCENT stands for “Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise,” and initial investments in the program were announced last November to bring a petrochemical complex and ethane cracker plant to Wood County. Since, two natural gas companies in North Central West Virginia have signed on to the project- Antero and Range Resources.
Tomblin said in a news release the project will allow the state not just to expand production of the natural gas industry, but to ensure those resources are used at home.
>> Comments — It is curious that the Governor needs to travel to Brazil to keep this project going. Wonder why we don’t get transcripts of the conversations? How much more “encouragement” will industry get? Is there any record of the Governor visiting the land owners where the drilling and fracking are creating noise, night lights, air pollution, huge water withdrawls from local streams, land disturbances, traffic problems, road damages? What about the toxic chemical wastes? What about the radioactive drill cuttings accumulating in local landfills?
>>> Just saying, again and again …. Consider the year 2013, there were 684 applications to the WV Division of Oil and Gas for horizontal drilling permits (which involve fracking) and 661 permits were granted. These are mostly in the northern and north central counties! What is the WV energy policy, to use up our valuable resources by turning them over to foreign companies and foreign countries via LNG tankers? DGN
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Shell to buy Beaver County industrial site for proposed ethane cracker
From an Article by Katie Colaneri, State Impact: PA-NPR, November 7, 2014
Shell has announced it will buy a Beaver County industrial site for its proposed ethane cracker. A proposal to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in western Pennsylvania has taken another step forward. Shell Chemical announced Friday it will buy the site of a former zinc plant in Beaver County.
The cracker plant would turn ethane – a natural gas liquid being extracted in abundance from the Marcellus Shale – into ethylene, a building block for plastics.
More from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“This is a good decision but it does not mean that we have [made] the investment decision to proceed with the project,” said Ate Visser, the vice president with Shell Chemical who has been the lead on the Marcellus cracker project since May.
Several things need to line up before Shell’s top brass can make a final investment decision.
The company is in the midst of engineering and design. Major permits, such as a state air permit, must be in hand. Only then will the Appalachian cracker project be stacked against other such plants in the Gulf and against other investment opportunities in Shell’s portfolio to inform a final decision on whether the project makes economic sense.
And many of the permits Shell is seeking require it to be the owner of the property, officials said, explaining the timing of the land purchase.
While the deal is far from done, the company has held public hearings in Beaver County and local business-owners are already looking to get their piece of the pie.
More hearings are planned for next week.
“The development and operation of this facility will create significant opportunities for the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania, providing thousands of jobs and reigniting the manufacturing industry in local communities,” said Governor Tom Corbett in a statement.
Corbett has been one of the proposal’s biggest cheerleaders, successfully pushing for a $1.65 billion tax credit for the project – the largest in state history. However, the announcement comes the same week Corbett, a Republican, lost his reelection bid to Democrat Tom Wolf.
On his website, Wolf says the proposed cracker plant is an example of how “the Marcellus Shale provides a great opportunity to grow and transform Pennsylvania’s manufacturing economy.”
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http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/frequently-asked-questions-about-ethane-crackers
Frequently Asked Questions about Ethane Crackers
The Allegheny Front, November 12, 2014
What is an ethane cracker?
An ethane cracker takes ethane, a component of natural gas found in abundance in the Marcellus shale, and process, or ‘crack’ it into ethylene. It does this by heating the ethane up so hot that it breaks apart the molecular bonds holding it together to form ethylene. Crackers often feed other nearby plants that create more refined products further “downstream.” Crackers are generally very large industrial plants.
Because the price of natural gas is low, new cracker facilities have been announced in the U.S. A typical “world-scale” ethane cracker costs in the neighborhood of $5 billion to build, and creates about 10,000 jobs during construction. But since plant operations are heavily automated, they only create between 350 and 1,200 permanent jobs.
The vast majority are located on the Gulf Coast. If Royal Dutch Shell builds an ethane cracker in Beaver County, it would be the first ethane cracker of this size to be located in the Marcellus shale region. The state has promised more than $1 billion in tax breaks over 25 years to the project, which Shell said could provide up to 10,000 jobs at the height of construction.
What is ethylene? What is it used for?
Ethylene is the most commonly produced petrochemical. It is the root chemical for a kingdom of plastics, resins, adhesives, and synthetic products used in virtually every aspect of modern life.
Ethylene is used as the basis for plastics like beverage containers, food wrap, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyester, and chemicals like those found in antifreeze, solvents, urethanes, and pharmaceuticals.
What pollutants are associated with the ethane cracker plants?
These are large industrial operations that handle potentially harmful chemicals. Air pollution from a cracker can include nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, all of which are regulated by the Clean Air Act.
Ethane crackers have the potential to emit large amounts of ethylene, propylene, and other so-called ‘highly reactive Volatile organic compounds’. These are chemical compounds that can react quickly in sunlight to form ground-level ozone, or smog.
Fugitive emissions or leaks can occur as a result of incomplete combustion during flaring, as well as from leaks in cooling towers, storage tanks, and any of the over 100,000 valves and flanges found in a typical cracker. Large releases can also occur during plant upsets, when a unit must be shut down because of a mechanical problem, power outage, or some other unplanned event. In some cases, these flaring events can release hazardous air pollutants like benzene, a known carcinogen.
What are VOCs?
VOCs, or volatile organic chemicals are highly reactive chemical compounds released from industrial processes, consumer solvents, and motor vehicles. In the presence of sunlight, VOCs react with oxygen and nitrogen compounds, like nitrogen oxides (which are commonly created by combustion of fossil fuels) to create ground level ozone or smog. Exposure to VOCs and ozone has been associated with increased rates of asthma, lung and respiratory infections, and cardiovascular problems.
What is benzene?
Benzene is a building block in the production of petrochemicals. A highly flammable substance made of six hydrogen molecules and six carbon molecules, benzene has been recognized as a human carcinogen. Exposure to benzene may occur through inhalation near industrial facilities, like petrochemicals plants, that use it in their processing. Since it is also a major component of gasoline, inhalation of benzene is possible at gas stations, as well as via cigarette smoking. Some immediate signs of high blood levels of benzene include drowsiness, dizziness, and confusion. Aside from cancer, long term exposure to benzene may result in irregular menses in women, anemia, and immunosuppression.