Pennsylvania’s Bad Bet – Why Shell Didn’t Save Appalachia with Plastics

In November 2022, over ten years after Shell’s first public announcement of site selection for the project, and after five years of construction, Shell Chemical Appalachia Polymers opened its ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The plant, which refines ethane, a natural gas liquid, into plastic pellets used to produce single-use plastics, was heralded as the beginning of a plastics industry renaissance in Appalachia. At least one local economic development organization estimated it would support nearly 600 direct employees and could generate 11,000 jobs in the Pittsburgh area.

Now, just over one year since production officially began, the plant has been mired in problems. The facility exceeded its allotted pollution limits within months of operating and repeated flaring has deepened air quality and health concerns of Beaver County residents. Furthermore, the plant seems to have fallen short so far in generating the economic benefits promised to residents, as Beaver County continues to trail the state across most economic metrics. This poor economic and environmental performance comes despite Shell receiving billions of dollars in state and local tax exemptions that carry an opportunity cost for taxpayers—namely, that alternative uses of the funds could have been used to grow the regional economy in more direct ways, such as to support small businesses, improve workforce development, or develop projects within industries that already have a strong history, complete with supply chains, in the region.