Dec 19th, 2021
by John Donovan.
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Extract from a letter to the Beaver County Times about Shell’s new Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant
FROM DAVE SUTTON
In great detail, the article describes how the opening of this plant will render the Beaver Valley environment untenable for human habitation.
According to the self-proclaimed experts quoted, cancer will be rampant, the air will be toxic along with the water. Even the light and noise from the plant will destroy everyone’s well-being. However, the Beaver County Emergency Services stands ready to aid at a moment’s notice.read more
A new report suggests Beaver County has yet to enjoy the long-promised economic growth stemming from Shell Chemicals’ cracker plant, but industry backers say the gains are clear.
Researchers with the Ohio River Valley Institute, a regional think tank focusing on clean energy and environment, released a report Tuesday titled “A Cautionary Tale of Petrochemicals from Pennsylvania,” analyzing Beaver County’s jobs numbers, new business growth, gross domestic product and poverty rates since Shell announced its intention to build here in 2012.read more
PITTSBURGH — Construction workers on the Pennsylvania Petrochemical Complex, known as the Shell Cracker Plant, in the western part of the state are claiming they did not receive overtime pay.
Daniel Davidson, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Nov. 2 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County against Brand Industrial Services Inc., BrandSafway Industries and others alleging violation of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act.read more
PITTSBURGH – A class action lawsuit brought on behalf of workers at Shell Oil Company alleges that the employees in question did not receive time-and-a-half compensation when they worked overtime hours.
Robert J. Merryman of Beaver Falls filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 15 versus Global Scaffold Construction Services, Inc. and Christopher Fannin, of Walker, La.read more
Community members encountered a powerful smell. And per the article, “On Mon., Sept. 27, the PADEP issued Shell a notice of violation for the odor and fugitive dust, and it considers this an open compliance matter, meaning that it is an ongoing violation of environmental law. Each day the violations continue is considered a separation offence. The notice of violations is neither an order or any final action by the PADEP.”read more
Early last year, Pennsylvania’s top environmental official tried to raise an alarm at the highest level of the federal agency responsible for pipeline safety.
“I write to you regarding a very serious public safety matter for Pennsylvania,” the letter from Patrick McDonnell, secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, began.read more
New York — Shell Chemical’s $6 billion petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania is now more than 70% complete and projected to be operational sometime in 2022, a company spokesman said March 12.”
On a daily basis workers are commissioning major pieces of equipment within our infrastructure units – a phased process that will continue until start-up” said the spokesman, Curtis Smith, in an email. “That includes connecting pipes and wiring that will eventually loop and extend for hundreds of miles along the site’s 386 acres,” he said.read more
Sixty-one new COVID-19 cases were reported at Beaver County’s cracker plant this week, bringing the total number since March to 335.
CHRISSY SUTTLES | BEAVER COUNTY TIMES: 12 Dec 2020
POTTER TWP. — Coronavirus cases continue to grow at Shell Chemicals’ ethane cracker plant site as COVID-19’s third wave hammers the region.
Sixty-one new virus cases were reported at Beaver County’s petrochemical complex this week, bringing the total number since March to 335. Since mid-November, total cases have tripled.read more
Shell’s Pennsylvania Ethane Cracker Completes 70% Construction
Zacks Equity Research
Royal Dutch Shell plc. (RDS.A – Free Report) said that its petrochemical complex of several billion dollars in Western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete and in the process to enter service in the early 2020s. The news was disclosed by Hilary Mercer, vice president of Shell Polymers via an online presentation at Shale Insight 2020 conference.
Currently under construction, the plant is in Beaver County, about 48 km northwest of Pittsburgh, and will be self-sustained with its natural gas power plant and water treatment facility. The plant’s costs are estimated to be $6-$10 billion, where ethane will be transformed into plastic feedstock. The facility is equipped to produce 1.5 million metric tons per year (“mmty”) of ethylene and 1.6 mmty of polyethylene, two important constituents of plastics.read more
Oil companies plan to invest $400 billion into new petrochemical plants, betting that demand for plastic will keep growing.
Authors of a new report say the industry and other forecasters fail to consider that large majorities favor legislation to curb plastic use and waste and that governments are acting.
Plastics impose a cost of $1000 per tonne — through CO2 emissions, air pollution, and collection costs. Calls to shift those costs onto producers through taxes are growing.
Outside experts said the long-term outlook for plastics demand remains uncertain and will depend on consumer preferences and government actions.
The COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating green growth around the world have eviscerated many of the oil industry’s dogmas: that renewables would suffer from high costs, that governments would slow-walk environmental commitments, that investors would continue to reward long-term bets on oil with generous market values.
But one nugget of wisdom has survived everything the market has thrown at it, and now oil companies like ExxonMobil and Shell are wagering billions on it: that the world’s demand for plastics is still growing, with no end in sight.read more
The Guardian: ‘War on plastic’ could strand oil industry’s £300bn investment
Major oil firms plan to grow plastic supply to counter impact of shift against fossil fuels
Jillian Ambrose: Fri 4 Sep 2020 06.00 BST
The war on plastic waste could scupper the oil industry’s multi-billion dollar bet that the world will continue to need more fossil fuels to help make the petrochemicals used in plastics, according to a new report.
Major oil companies, including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, plan to spend about $400bn (£300bn) to help grow the supply of virgin plastics by a quarter over the next five years, to compensate for the impact of electric vehicles and clean energy technologies on demand for fossil fuels.read more
Petrochemicals are expected to underpin global oil demand growth in the future as growth in transportation fuels demand is set to slow with the increased use of electric vehicles, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in March in its annual Oil 2020 report with projections until 2025. But are petrochemicals really profitable?
“Petrochemical feedstocks LPG/ethane and naphtha will drive around half of all oil products demand growth, helped by continued rising plastics demand and cheap natural gas liquids in North America,” the IEA said in March when the COVID-19 pandemic was already upending global oil demand growth projections for this year.read more
The site has seen 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases since March — 14 active and 21 recovered. More than 1,000 tests have been conducted at Shell’s on-site lab, with approximately 1 percent coming back positive.
POTTER TWP. — The number of COVID-19 cases at Beaver County’s ethane cracker plant has nearly doubled in less than three weeks.
Another 17 employees at the Shell Chemicals complex have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since mid-July, and 35 people have been infected since the pandemic hit Pennsylvania in March.read more
THE GUARDIAN: Big corporations accused of driving environmental and health inequalities in black and brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution are also funding powerful police groups in major US cities, according to a new investigation.
Some of America’s largest oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that bankroll fossil fuels also back police foundations…
Shell is one of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world, and is currently building a huge ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh, which advocates warn could turn Appalachia into the next so-called Cancer Alley – a corridor of Louisiana refineries, where Shell is also a major polluter. Shell is a “featured partner” of the New Orleans police foundation and a sponsor of the Houston police’s mounted patrol.read more
In the 90s and up to 2004 carrying on Audits on Woodside Energy offshore installations on behalf of SIEP I was made aware that Woodside along with other operators held the then Regulator in low regard. They were not enough of them, underfunded and considered not competent and also because of this did not have the authority and respect of the Industry.
A forward looking COO of Woodside had the revolutionary idea of involving Regulators in his Audit process and requested I also discuss my findings etc with them. Now the old Regulatory organisation has been redesigned with more resources, a wider brief, and much more support it appears from state and national government.
Bogus Group has made both a succinct but most meaningful contribution.
If as covered on their blog the operator is considered Not Yet Competent to understand his own operational risks by a rejuvenated, well resourced, self confident, and authoritative Regulator, and that finding seems to be accepted by Shell Australia, then we begin to understand better how the events of 2nd December developed
Bill Campbell.
Bogus Group: When the regulator determines that an operator does not have sufficient understanding of the risks of the Prelude facility power systems, including failure of mechanisms, interdependencies, and recovery, alarm bells should be ringing.
Bogus Group: Following yet another Prelude safety issue, I wonder if ‘mortification’ is in Rob Jager’s’ vocabulary, after his legacy idiotic statements (August’19 blog). Or does he just develop amnesia as he moves through the executive revolving door to his next role, where he can continue to utter Hans Christian Andersen like proclamations.
Gail: As a very concerned South African citizen I wish to point out that Shell is supposed to respect people and have ethics.
You are going against the wishes of many South African citizens with this proposed exploration.
Citizens have stood together and have brought two court cases against Shell, the first one was not successful and we are awaiting the decision on the second case.
We appeal to Shell HO to take notice of our concerns and cease with this exploration.
USA USA USA: I think this site is loosing its purpose. The next batch of Shell reorg has removed most of the people who would be willing to post comments. Shell is just lost - thinking its green when its about 0.5% green...
Eliece Horton: I really like my local Shell Gas Station, they have always been very helpful, so I am sad that we can no longer go there.
Our family will be BOYCOTTING SHELL in the USA to STOP Seismic Testing on the South African Coast to protect Marine Life.
The oil will not go anywhere. Leave it there until Britain has a generation of inhabitants that appreciate it. Meanwhile the present numpty generation can cope with windmill energy and 51'N solar.
David Tallboys
Fortunately the Japanese have seen sense and are encouraging new oil and gas projects:
Government officials have been quietly urging trading houses, refiners and utilities to slow down their move away from fossil fuels, and even encouraging new investments in oil-and-gas projects.
Robin Beckett
Shell won't care too much, they have exploration and new developments going on worldwide, as do the other big oil and gas companies. Gas/petrol was $2.76 a gallon in Texas yesterday, that's 15c down on earlier in the week.
colin whyte
Am I missing something here? Wasn't Scotland's financial state based on oil/gas receipts during their last independence referendum? I'm to suspect that Krankie now realises independence is a no go so is doing her utmost to trash the Nation. Nice to be able to turn down a thousand jobs as well.
R Morley
Unless we have zero requirement for oil and gas we have two options:
1) Exploit UK national resources and extract it ourselves
2) Pay another country and import it.
It is astonishing/depressing that UK Plc is having its energy policy dictated by a group of juvenile eco extremists.
Stuart Robertson
Few of these green eco nuts were alive or old enough to remember when in the early 1970’s when OPEC put our economy into a tailspin and we started to explore for our own resources. Now thanks to meaningless virtue signally we are about to become even more dependent on foreign powers to keep us warm and our way of life alive. I say meaningless because industry is already working towards transition from fossil fuels but it can’t happen by tomorrow afternoon and meanwhile our friends in Russia and Mid East will be rubbing their hands in glee at our naivety.
Len RMaC
Green activism is a cancer that will erode this country’s competitiveness and our standards of living. Somehow, it needs cutting out before it’s damage has gone too far.
graeme scott
We don’t develop national resources, we don’t develop our infrastructure to cope , we import resources from Qatar and yet we have shale gas in North Yorkshire that will meet our needs for 50 years
John Condon
The ecowarriors use ICE cars possibly Diesel. They probably have gas central heating and ovens. It’s OK according to them to import coal, oil and gas to power these - but we must stop producing fossil fuels ourselves?!?!?! They seem oblivious to the additional transportation costs associated with importation.. They seem oblivious to the strategic risk of trusting Putin and OPEC to maintain supplies and prices. They have essentially put the cart before the horse. FIRST STOP IMPORTS and when coal, oil and gas are no longer needed for fuel and raw materials such as plastic THEN STOP INDIGENOUS SUPPLIES. This is so obvious how come they can’t see it?!?!?!
Clitherow Kid
It will go ahead but with lower public profile investors. Recent projects have seen a slew of equity partners with unrecognised names. The wider picture though is the message it sends to the highly skilled and well paid UK workers in the sector. They represent the jobs that we need to retain, and could be deployed in the urgently needed new nuclear plant developments. Instead it looks like a lot will be relocating to the middle east to be replaced here with what? More Deliveroo cyclists?.
Ogden Nash
Could somebody at the DT please commission a simple piece of research and write an article to show the requirements for electricity should the Government plans come into being - namely that all cars and all domestic heating is converted over to electric. So something like ..... No' of cars is the UK x average mileage x no' of KWh per mile = total KWh required for transport. ( you could even make it optimistic and assume everyone converts to a Nissan Leaf - no more Chelsea Tractors ) Then a similar calculation for homes ... No' of homes x average KWh used per year = Total KWh.
Add these together and divide by one of the outputs of a major Nuclear rector, This will show how many more reactors we would need to supply these crazy ideas.
Oil giant has pulled out of the Cambo field amid lack of support from UK and Scottish governments: Small selection of comments from this Telegraph article
Kathryn Jones
Let me correct that headline for you."victory for Nicola Sturgeon, Saudi Arabia and Russia as Shell walks away..." Fixed it for you.
J Thomas
Oh no! We are going to have to send more charity payments to Scotland under the Barnett formula! Additionally, if no one drills for gas and oil two things will happen. Many of us will freeze to death and the price of oil and gas will zoom upwards to include what I call G.T.T. The Greta Thunberg Tax!
Kelland Hutchence
Well done Shell! At least the oil and gas will still be there to be exploited when all this fake climate crisis is revealed for what it really is.
Ian Mclaren
If that's a victory? I'd hate to see what one of her defeats looks like.
Dale Carmichael
I think we going to massively regret this.
The eco loons don't care about the decent people this decision will effect.
James Hammett
These people are ridiculous. We are still going to use oil and all its by-products. This makes no positive difference to the country's carbon output, it just means a little more of it will be from burning oil from other countries' oil fields when we could have been drilling our own.
Scot Way
In 2014 gas and oil were the bedrock of an independent Scotland's financial future. Her new stance is mere posturing and destructive towards future jobs and industry. Wind power ain't gonna cut it. She's like rudderless ship being tossed about at sea during a storm.
Echo Fish
Reply to Scot Way - view message
Especially if the plan is to sell the energy to the "hated" English. She may well find England finds other independent energy sources.
Steve Graham
It seems that the Scottish economy or jobs dont matter any more to Sturgeon's SNP. While the UK push for a Zero Carbon economy, China are burning everything they can find the push their economy forwards. Mini countries like Scotland need to stop virtue signaling their Green smugness and realise their input is so minute that they are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Andrew Pierce
Your headline describes this as "a victory"! How the hell can this be described as a victory? Anything which reduces our own self-sufficiency, and leaves us more reliant on importing a vital resource from countries who's leaders seek to destroy us can only be described as a monumental own-goal!
Jiminy Cricket
Sturgeon only ‘opposed’ Cambo on the 16th November 2021. Before that she sat on the fence and blamed Boris. Then during Cop26 she realised her mistake and opposed it. Boris is the winner here - he knew that this would be an ‘own goal’ for Sturgeon and the SNP, now in league with the Scottish Green Party who also oppose the Scottish fishing industry. 10000 jobs lost to Scotland and much more. Environmental issues marooned in the in-tray for the Scottish Government- while power cables are still not fixed and people in Scotland are freezing. If that’s a win for Sturgeon I’d like to see her Financial Plan for her Independence Referendum.
If this had been the other way around, this article would have featured prominently in the main news page, rather than under the “Business” section. This is why people question the BBC’s impartiality..
(P.S. I voted remain)
No2EU: 10:54 15 Nov
to rl"
If this had been the other way around, this article would have featured prominently in the main news page, rather than under the “Business” section.This is why people question the BBC’s impartiality..(P.S. I voted remain)
"
No2EU replied: And Brexit would be blamed.
Smile dont shout: 10:57 15 Nov
Can't imagine what prompted this move:
"Earlier this year, a court in the Netherlands ruled that by 2030 Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2019 levels.” This only applies to the Netherlands
greenbird10 11:01 15 Nov
to Smile dont shout
"
Can't imagine what prompted this move:"Earlier this year, a court in the Netherlands ruled that by 2030 Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2019 levels."This only applies to the Netherlands
"
greenbird10 replied:
Think that's all the article needed to say to explain the move.
U17881151: 10:48 15 Nov
The truth is corporations are concerned about EU bureaucratic interference.
We saw with AstraZenica that the EU will block trade if they believe it gives them an advantage.
Google and other tech companies are increasingly being fined billions to fund EU wages and pensions.
The EU is a bit anti business.
It would be better to just focus on trade and creating friendly partnerships.
Arcangel: 10:56 15 Nov
to U17881151
"
The truth is corporations are concerned about EU bureaucratic interference. We saw with AstraZenica that the EU will block trade if they believe it gives them an advantage. Google and other tech companies are increasingly being fined billions to fund EU wages and pensions. The EU is a bit anti business. It would be better to just focus on trade and creating friendly partnerships.
"
Arcangel replied:
Agreed, but tbh I would rather we were stricter on companies like Shell given they are responsible for a large amount of the worlds pollution
Insider: Joe Lycett should talk to his friend Jimmy Carr about Shell. Jimmy worked in Shell marketing dept during the 1990s at Shell Mex House in the Strand.
Listen and read proof in audio and transcript form of Shell CEO Ben van Beurden’s cover-up tactics in the OPL 245 Nigerian corruption scandal. The instruction given by him in the covertly recorded call to CFO Simon Henry was at odds with Shell’s claimed core business principles. Cover-up and obstruction, instead of transparency and integrity, says Shell critic John Donovan
JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW
SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE
SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS
SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL
INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON
SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA
ESTHER KIOBEL SUES SHELL FOR COMPLICITY IN HUSBANDS MURDER
ESTHER KIOBEL: EVIL OIL GIANT SHELL COLLUDED IN THE EXECUTION OF MY INNOCENT HUSBAND
SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA
SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO
SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS
SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO
ABANDONED BY SHELL: KEITH MACDONALD & FAMILY, VICTIMS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION AT WORK
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER
JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
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Extract from a letter to the Beaver County Times about Shell’s new Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant
The Times
Pennsylvania Record
The Pennsylvania Petrochemical Complex is more commonly referred to as the ‘Shell Cracker Plant’
Sniffing out danger? That odor from the Shell cracker plant put the community on alert
Federal, state agencies probing Shell’s Falcon ethane pipeline after whistleblowers’ allegations
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EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
