Communities Fight Back Against Shell’s Attempt to Dodge Commonsense Clean Air Protections

PITTSBURGH, PA -- Yesterday, communities across Western Pennsylvania filed a joint protest of Shell Pipeline Company’s effort to build the Falcon Ethane Pipeline without any air pollution limits. In fact, Shell is seeking a complete exemption from air permitting requirements despite knowing the pipeline will exacerbate the air pollution problems in Beaver, Allegheny, and Washington counties .

Western Pennsylvania already has serious and ongoing air quality problems, such as smog, which leads to hospitalizations and even death. Shell’s pipeline will only make these problems worse. Furthermore, Shell is continually downplaying the environmental impacts of their fossil fuel projects in the Commonwealth and DEP even found “significant technical deficiencies” in Shell’s permit applications.

The Falcon pipeline, a 97-mile pipeline network intended to feed Shell’s ethane cracker facility in Beaver County, would cross 300 streams, 174 wetlands, and 25 municipalities in three states — in some cases through residential neighborhoods. The pipeline would feed the proposed Petrochemical Cracker facility along the Ohio River in Beaver County and would encourage the development of more destructive fossil fuel projects in the area. Similar pipelines, such as the Mariner East 2, have caused significant harm to communities and the environment due to a lack of inadequate permitting and oversight.

In response, Patrick Grenter, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Senior Campaign Representative for Pennsylvania and Maryland released the following statement:

"Western Pennsylvanian communities are all too aware of the threats polluted air poses to their health, so it’s despicable that Shell would try to dodge the commonsense protections designed to keep us healthy. Under no circumstances should DEP give a polluting corporation a pass when our health is already at risk. The comments we filed make it clear that because we can’t trust Shell to put people over profits, our DEP will have to hold them accountable.”