Media Contact:
Justin Wasser, jwasser@earthworks.org
Background: On September 4th, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reached a consent agreement, including fines, with Shell Chemical Appalachia, LLC for a violation of multiple air and water regulations. The facility has received 43 violations since the last Consent Order and Agreement in May of 2023. Earthworks Thermographers have documented repeated instances of air pollution from the Shell Plastics Plant since its start of operations in 2022, including as recently as February of 2026, three years following the first Consent Order and Agreement (COA).
Statement by anaïs peterson, Earthworks Petrochemical Campaigner (and member of the Steering Committee for the Environmental Mitigation Fund created by the 2023 COA):
“The Shell Plastics Plant in Beaver County continues to be allowed to fail upward. After paying nearly $10 million for a consent order and agreement in 2023 for illegal air quality violations, the facility has now received an even larger fine just three years later. State regulators should be applauded for holding a corporate polluter accountable.
“Unfortunately, no amount of money in the form of a fine will undo the damage done, and DEP must continue to take more consistent action against this repeat violator.
“This multibillion, multinational corporation continues to treat the communities of Beaver County and Southwestern Pennsylvania as a sacrifice zone with little care for the short or long term impacts of their greed. In fact, instead of agreeing to reduce their pollution to legal levels, Shell executives are simply requesting a new permit to increase how much they can pollute!
“Earthworks has visited the facility multiple times since it opened in 2022 and captured evidence that the facility persistently pollutes. Time and again, the concerns residents raised during the initial permitting process are proven right as this facility recklessly pollutes and endangers the community. When will enough be enough?”