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Beaver County

Pennsylvania Plastics Pollution Settlement Could Set a National Precedent for Control of Pellets

The case is the first citizen suit to successfully settle over “nurdles” in an inland waterway. State regulators weighed in to help.

By Jon Hurdle

The Three Rivers Waterkeeper found tiny “nurdles” in the water and banks of Raccoon Creek in western Pennsylvania. Credit: Three Rivers Waterkeeper
The Shell plant in Beaver County, Pa., produces polyethylene, a type of single-use plastic, using ethane. Credit: Mark Dixon/CC BY 2.0

Pennsylvania Lured Shell to the State With a $1.65 Billion Tax Break. Now the Company Wants to Sell Its Plant

By Kiley Bense

A view of Big Sewickley Creek downstream from PennEnergy’s proposed water withdrawal site shows erosion control (center) and a portion of the project workspace and parking area (gravel and log on right). Credit: Rose Reilly/Big Sewickley Creek Watershed Association

Pennsylvania Fracking Company Surrenders Water Permits Over Concerns About Stream Flow

By Jon Hurdle

Shell said April 25 that it would start using its “elevated flare this afternoon” at its Pennsylvania plastics plant and expected the work to continue through the weekend. This image was taken during that period. Credit: Hilary Starcher-O’Toole

Nighttime Flaring at Shell Plastics Plant Lit Up Beaver County ‘Like Dawn’

By Kiley Bense

A view of the Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pa. Credit: Mark Dixon/CC BY 2.0

New Data Shows Giant Petrochemical Plant Has Failed to Boost Local Economy

By Jon Hurdle

The Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania will produce more than a million tons of plastic along the Ohio River. Credit: Mark Dixon/CC BY 2.0 Deed

Q&A: Is Pittsburgh Becoming ‘the Plastic City’?

By Kiley Bense

The Shell plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania takes ethane and heats it to extremely high temperatures, “cracking” the molecular bonds holding it together to form ethylene and polyethylene pellets called nurdles. Credit: Mark Dixon/CC BY 2.0 Deed

A Plastics Plant Promised Pennsylvania Prosperity, but to Some Residents It’s Become a ‘Shockingly Bad’ Neighbor

By Kiley Bense

The Shell plastics plant on the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Credit: Mark Dixon, Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

Q&A: What to Do About Pollution From a Vast New Shell Plastics Plant in Pennsylvania

A New, Massive Plastics Plant in Southwest Pennsylvania Barely Registers Among Voters

By Emma Ricketts

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