Beaver County communities to receive $5 million from Shell cracker settlement

Beaver County will receive $5 million as part of a settlement over air quality violations at Shell Chemical Appalachia’s cracker plant to use for community projects.

The funding is due to a consent order announced in May in which Shell Chemicals Appalachia agreed to pay nearly $10 million for air quality violations during the commissioning of its petrochemical plant in Potter Township.

Under that agreement, Shell would pay a $4.9 million civil penalty, with 25% going to local communities, along with $5 million for environmental projects to benefit those communities, and additional monthly civil penalties for the remainder of this year.

Projects that provide environmental, health, or quality of life benefits in Beaver County may be eligible for funding, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

At least one project should provide for regular, independent testing of the air quality around the cracker plant, and at least one project should focus on meaningful community education and engagement to design strategies that improve the health and/or quality of life of the communities near the facility, the DEP said.

“The consent order and agreement includes a strong recommendation to fund a project that provides additional and independent air monitoring. We’re encouraged by the community feedback we received supporting that, and the steering committee incorporated it in the final protocol,” said DEP Secretary Rich Negrin in a statement.

Organizations designated as a 501c(3) or that partner with such an organization, located within Beaver County or partnering with a Beaver County organization, may apply.

Projects that are ineligible include those that lobby, engage in advocacy against public, private, or government organizations; support litigation or potential legal action; or promote or enable hate, discrimination, or violence.

The 17-member Environmental Mitigation Community Fund steering committee, primarily comprised of representatives from organizations serving Beaver County, was created to oversee how the funds are invested in the community.

“I applaud the steering committee for ensuring that community feedback was meaningfully integrated and crafting this protocol in a timely and efficient manner,” Negrin said. “Funds like this one reflect our new commitment to using our enforcement efforts to maximize resources that are returned to communities. This protocol forms the foundation for what we can do in the future.”

The steering committee is working on a plan to further detail the process for how project proposals should be submitted, evaluated, and selected, the DEP said. This plan will also establish the financial entity that will serve as the trustee and the process to distribute the funds.

A separate, yet-to-be-formed, advisory board will be selected to receive, evaluate, and approve projects, DEP said.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but this process just proved that a community-driven, collaborative process can work if we do it in an open and transparent fashion,” said DEP Special Deputy Secretary Fernando Treviño.