Shell Pipeline Co. to pay $670K for Falcon violations
Shell Pipeline Co. and a contractor hired to build Shell’s Falcon Pipeline will pay Pennsylvania $670,000 in civil penalties for environmental and permit violations spanning two years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday announced the company and its contractor, Minnesota Limited LLC, will pay for a series of violations documented during the construction of the company’s now-completed Falcon Pipeline.
The line’s Pennsylvania route travels more than 45 miles through Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties to deliver ethane to Shell’s petrochemical complex in Potter Township. The system travels 97.5 miles total to processing plants in Houston, Pa., Scio, Ohio, and Cadiz, Ohio.
From March 2019 to April 2021, the DEP and local conservation districts conducted at least 67 inspections of the pipeline construction sites to determine compliance, ultimately documenting multiple sediment and drilling fluid leaks into area waterways including the Ohio River, Ambridge Reservoir and Raccoon Creek.
More:DEP: No impact from spill at Falcon pipeline site
The violations included five inadvertent returns, eight sediment discharges, failure to comply with permit conditions, failure to implement or maintain effective erosion and sediment best management practices and failure to properly stabilize sites. No visual aquatic impacts were observed during the inspections, the DEP noted.
More:Falcon Pipeline whistleblowers ‘fired for reporting hazards,' complaint says
State regulators also cited both companies for failure to report spills and cease operations as required.
DEP’s portion of the money will be added to the state’s Clean Water Fund and Encroachments Fund. In addition to the $670,000 settlement, Shell Pipeline will pay $27,000 in cost recovery to the DEP and conservation districts in Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties. The Beaver County Conservation District will receive $1,496.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Shell Pipeline Co. to pay $670K for Falcon violations in western PA
