Shell receives water authority’s approval for ethane pipeline
Shell Pipeline Co. and the Ambridge Water Authority have settled on a series of measures that the pipeline company will take to protect the source of water for almost 30,000 Beaver County customers.
At issue is a 97-mile ethane pipeline that Shell will build to bring the natural gas liquid from processing plants in Washington County and Ohio to its petrochemical complex in Potter Township.
After more than 1,000 public comments, many concerned about the integrity of the Ambridge reservoir and the authority’s raw water pipeline, Pennsylvania environmental regulators issued permits for Shell to proceed with construction last month.
The Ambridge Water Authority’s general manager, Michael Dominick, had been one of the voices opposing Shell’s route in the vicinity of the reservoir and underneath the raw water line. He advocated for the company to find a different path or step up protections, and noted that the organization had declined prior overtures from oil and gas companies to lease the authority’s land because it was concerned about the impact of such activity on a high-quality water source that serves tens of thousands.
Some safeguards for the water authority had already been hashed out by the time the Department of Environmental Protection approved the permits.
For example, Shell agreed to run its pipeline 31 feet below the water authority’s raw water line — deeper than it had previously planned. It also said it would have a crew on tap in case of a water line break and supply backup joints in case the water line is damaged in the construction process.
On Tuesday, Shell announced that it also agreed to build a connection to the West View Water Authority that could serve as a backup in case service at the
Ambridge Water Authority was interrupted.
Mr. Dominick wrote in a statement announcing the agreement that “Shell has demonstrated its commitment to protect our customers’ water.”
The Breathe Project, which along with several other environmental and community groups, has been fighting the Falcon pipeline, said that “Shell Pipeline promising to supply an inferior alternate through West View Water is an inadequate response.”
“We are disappointed that the Ambridge Water Authority has abdicated their responsibility to protect the reservoir,” Deb Smit, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement.
Gail Murray, a customer of the Edgeworth Water Authority, which also gets its water from the Ambridge entity, was careful not to criticize the Ambridge Water Authority for giving in.
The arrangement “seems to be the best that they can do ‘within their means,’” she said.
Her opposition to the Falcon pipeline reaches beyond the Ambridge reservoir. It has to do with the “oil and gas industry’s plan to convert the Tri-State area of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia into a new plastics belt.”
Even as concerns about the Ambridge authority’s water supply presented a tangible angle for ethane pipeline opponents, appeals to regulators also wove in alarm about how many new oil and gas wells will need to be drilled to feed the Potter Township cracker plant and how much plastic will be added to the world as a result of its production.
Royal Dutch Shell addressed this issue recently by joining the newly formed Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Other founding members include Dow, LyondellBasell, and Procter & Gamble. The organization says it will devote at least $1 billion over the next five years to discover ways to keep used plastics out of the environment. Specifics, including a list of members, were not immediately apparent.
In a LinkedIn post published on Wednesday, Graham van’t Hoff, an executive vice president of chemicals at Shell, wrote that “the challenge is not with plastics themselves. It is what happens after people use them.”
He said, for example, the company is looking at ways to potentially turn used plastics into fuel.
Shell is growing its chemical production, Mr. van’t Hoff said — specifically calling out the Beaver County project — to accommodate the demand for these materials, and he drew a link between increased plastics use and lower environmental impact.
There’s plastic in solar panels, he said, and electric vehicle parts.
“Investing in chemicals is part of our strategy to thrive through the energy transition,” Mr. van’t Hoff wrote.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf made a similar argument when he was challenged about his support for the $6 billion Shell project at an event where he was heralding a plan to fight carbon emissions.
Several groups that mounted an opposition campaign to the Falcon pipeline saw it as a way to foil the cracker plant.
But Shell is moving forward according to schedule, Shell Pipeline spokeswoman Virginia Sanchez said.
The company has already hired its main construction contractor, Minnesota Limited, and will begin clearing the right of way in the next week or so.
That will involve cutting down trees and bushes, and reinforcing or building access roads. Pipeline construction is expected to follow over the next eight to 10 months, Ms. Sanchez said. The pipeline should be completed by the end of the year, she said.
“Investing in chemicals is part of our strategy to thrive through the energy transition.” — Graham van’t Hoff, executive vice president of chemicals at Shell