Shell’s Billion-Dollar Boondoggle: How Beaver County Got Played

Posted by John Donovan: 8 Feb 2025

Shell, which has raked in obscene profits while contributing to environmental degradation on a global scale, proudly pointed out that they have paid $52 million in taxes, royalties, and fees over the last three years. What a bargain for Pennsylvania taxpayers, who handed over $1.65 billion to Shell in exchange. You don’t need to be an economist to see that the math here is, shall we say, garbage.

In a shocking twist that absolutely no one could have predicted, throwing $1.65 billion in taxpayer-funded corporate welfare at an oil giant did not magically transform Beaver County into an economic utopia. Who knew? (Oh right, plenty of people warned about this, but let’s not let common sense get in the way of a good old-fashioned cash grab.)

According to a new report by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a clean energy think tank, Shell’s shiny new petrochemical plant—the recipient of the largest tax credit in Pennsylvania history—has done virtually nothing to stop the region’s long-term economic decline.

“[B]y nearly every measure of economic activity, today Beaver County is worse off than it was before the Shell plant was announced in 2012,” the report grimly states. That’s right—despite all the grand promises, economic indicators like population, employment, and GDP have declined since the project was announced, while the rest of Pennsylvania and the U.S. have grown.

Promises vs. Reality: The Art of Corporate Fairy Tales

Shell originally promised that the Beaver County ethane cracker—built with the help of one of the most generous handouts ever from the state—would be a “windfall” for the local economy. And for a brief, fleeting moment, it almost looked like they might be right! During peak construction, more than 8,500 workers flooded the area, bringing a temporary boost. But now? Those jobs are long gone, and Beaver County’s economic struggles are worse than ever.

“You’ve got a lot of workers coming into Beaver County to build that plant, and for a few years, that actually does provide a boost,” admitted Eric de Place, a senior research fellow at ORVI. “But those employment and population numbers fell off after 2020, the year of COVID, and are now lower than they were in the 2010s.”

Meanwhile, Shell continues to pat itself on the back, with spokesperson Natalie Gunnell insisting, “Shell takes an active role in the communities where we work and live.” Ah yes, so “active” that Beaver County is now experiencing a decline while the rest of the country moves forward.

But Hey, At Least They Paid a Few Taxes, Right?

Shell, which has raked in obscene profits while contributing to environmental degradation on a global scale, proudly pointed out that they have paid $52 million in taxes, royalties, and fees over the last three years. What a bargain for Pennsylvania taxpayers, who handed over $1.65 billion to Shell in exchange. You don’t need to be an economist to see that the math here is, shall we say, garbage.

Even Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning tried to defend the deal, dismissing comparisons to more prosperous parts of Pennsylvania as “ridiculous.” Manning insists that Beaver County is doing well compared to other struggling counties in Western Pennsylvania. Because when your economy is floundering, the best defense is, “Well, at least we’re not failing as badly as some other places.”

The Bottom Line: Shell Got Paid, Beaver County Got Played

So here we are, with a billion-dollar chemical plant, a bunch of unmet promises, and an economy still circling the drain. But don’t worry—Shell’s investors, like BlackRock and Vanguard, are surely laughing all the way to the bank. After all, this is just another day in the world of fossil fuel profiteering: extract resources, exploit taxpayers, and leave communities behind.

And the best part? Shell isn’t even pretending anymore. As one economist put it, “Certainly, the project has not turned around the economic trends in Beaver County yet.”

The real question is: Will it ever? Or did Beaver County just become the latest cautionary tale in the long, grim history of corporate welfare gone wrong?

Spoiler alert: We all know the answer.

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