EDITORIAL: Shell fine just cost of business
May 27—Shell isn't very good at controlling air and water pollution at its massive new petrochemical refinery in Beaver County, but it is adept at politics and math.
The state Department of Environmental Protection announced this week that Shell had agreed to pay $10 million for releasing hazardous materials well in excess of regulatory limits, including volatile organic compounds from October through April, carbon monoxide from February through March 2023, and nitrogen oxides and hazardous air pollutants from December through April. The DEP also cited the company for flared-gas violations from June through April, and odor violations at its wastewater treatment plant in January, February and April.
In a conference call with gas industry analysts, Shell CEO Wael Sawan called the pollution discharges "technical niggles."
Andi Grey, who lives three miles from the plant, had a different description: "The overwhelming and toxic pollution residents have been exposed to has already harmed this community — there is no price tag that will allow for this to be acceptable."
State officials characterized the $10 million agreement as a significant enforcement action, but for Shell it undoubtedly is merely a cost of doing business.
The state government itself proves that point. More than a decade ago, Gov. Tom Corbett and allied legislators raced to provide Shell with $1.7 billion in state tax credits to build the plant, which uses the byproduct ethane from Marcellus Shale natural gas production to produce plastics. The $10 million agreement leaves Shell only $1.69 billion ahead of the game.
As governments around the world try to reduce plastic pollution, including many in Pennsylvania through plastic-bag bans and anti-litter programs, the state government pays a company to produce 3.5 billion pounds of plastic a year, increasing air pollution in the process.
Yet, the state government remains optimistic: "We know that Shell can operate a state-of-the-art facility that helps grow our economy without harming the environment, and we are going to hold them to the requirements laid out in their permits," said Richard Negrin, acting Pennsylvania DEP secretary.
Actually, he doesn't know that, or whether a slap-on-the-wrist agreement will cause the company to prove him right.
