As Shell continues its relentless pollution, the true cost of their operations becomes clearer. The $12 million in fines they’ve paid so far is a mere drop in the ocean for a company that raked in $28 billion in profits in 2023. For Shell, pollution fines are just the cost of doing business—a cost that’s far too easy to pay.
Posted by John Donovan: 16 May 2024
Shell’s Monaca Monster: Beaver County’s New Worst Neighbour
When Jackie Shock-Stewart and her husband Matt Stewart moved to Beaver County, Pennsylvania in 2014, they were blissfully unaware that a petrochemical apocalypse was looming over their picturesque suburban paradise. Fast forward to 2016, and Shell decided to gift the county with a shiny new ethane cracker plant—a monstrous facility dedicated to churning out millions of tons of plastic and polluting the Ohio River. What a delightful surprise!
Initially, the couple and their neighbours were lulled into a false sense of security. Shell’s marketing wizardry painted the plant as a “modern, clean industry.” Oh, how wrong they were. By May 2023, the plant had already amassed an impressive $10 million in fines for blowing past its air quality limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hazardous air pollutants. Because who needs clean air anyway?
Shell’s disregard for the environment didn’t stop there. The Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council launched a citizen suit against Shell for its persistent and flagrant violations of the Clean Air Act. And in February 2024, Beaver resident John Flynn upped the ante with a class-action lawsuit accusing Shell of releasing noxious odours, dust, and light emissions that turned the neighbourhood into a dystopian nightmare.
“I think expectations from the beginning were extremely low,” said Anaïs Peterson of Earthworks. “We all knew it was going to be bad, but it’s shockingly bad.”
Before the plant even started full operations, Shock-Stewart had already noticed odd, sweet smells wafting through her home. Not exactly the kind of ambience one hopes for in suburban Pennsylvania. By 2022, the Stewarts had had enough and made the heart-wrenching decision to uproot their lives and move to Ohio, leaving behind a community they had grown to love.
Shell’s ethane cracker plant is a marvel of modern pollution. It takes ethane from fracked natural gas, heats it to unimaginable temperatures, and spits out ethylene and polyethene pellets called nurdles—the building blocks of all those single-use plastics we just can’t seem to live without. The plant spews out a cocktail of toxins, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, PM2.5 fine particles, sulfur dioxide, and of course, our dear friend benzene, a known human carcinogen.
Despite the blatant environmental catastrophe, Shell insists they’re committed to being “good environmental stewards.” Curtis Thomas, Shell’s spokesperson, assures us they are dedicated to the well-being of their employees and the community. Because nothing says “we care” like a constant stream of toxic emissions and a trail of violation notices.
The plant’s presence has turned Beaver County into a living hell for many residents. “Anybody in the vicinity is having a hard time sleeping,” said Karen Gdula, who lives three and a half miles from the plant. The noise from the rail cars and the glow from the plant make for a perfect night’s (lack of) sleep.
As if the daily pollution wasn’t enough, in April 2023, the plant experienced a delightful “odour incident,” releasing benzene and other VOCs into the air. Shell’s half-hearted apology on Facebook did little to quell residents’ fears. “There’s no dose of benzene that isn’t carcinogenic,” said Leonardo Trasande, a physician and expert in children’s environmental health at NYU. But hey, Shell assures us the incident “did not pose danger to the public health and safety or the environment.” Right.
The sheer scale and audacity of Shell’s operations have left Beaver County residents reeling. “The entire sky was lit up, and I thought it was a fire,” said Andie Grey, recalling a terrifying night when she thought the plant had exploded. Turns out it was just another instance of flaring, the industrial equivalent of lighting a cigarette with a blowtorch.
As Shell continues its relentless pollution, the true cost of their operations becomes clearer. The $12 million in fines they’ve paid so far is a mere drop in the ocean for a company that raked in $28 billion in profits in 2023. For Shell, pollution fines are just the cost of doing business—a cost that’s far too easy to pay.
In the end, the residents of Beaver County are left to deal with the fallout. As Jackie Shock-Stewart put it, “I didn’t realize until we moved how much of that stress I was carrying all the time.” For those still living in the shadow of Shell’s ethane cracker, the future remains uncertain, clouded by pollution and corporate indifference.
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