Shell Polymers Monaca, the petrochemical plant in Beaver County, has continued to emit harmful nitrogen oxide above legally permitted levels for almost three years without any clear enforcement action from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The massive facility, which launched in fall 2022, has extended its original temporary operating permit seven times. It does not yet have a long-term Title V permit, and environmental advocates say the repeated temporary extensions could shield the company from stricter regulation by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
“[Temporary permit] extensions are meant to hold over the facility during Title V review and processing. That did not happen here, and Shell has been given a lot of extra time to ‘work out the bugs’ of the facility,” wrote the Philadelphia-based environmental nonprofit Clean Air Council in a statement to Public Source. “Unfortunately, those ‘bugs’ continue to today.”
The Council is the plaintiff in a two-year-old lawsuit alleging that Shell “will continue to release illegal air pollution” in violation of the Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act and should be facing a penalty of more than $100 million for violations.
A Shell spokesperson wrote to Public Source that the company is “working with the relevant regulatory agencies throughout the process and we remain committed to protecting people, the environment, and to being a responsible neighbor in the communities where we live and work.”
The DEP, charged with regulating emissions and issuing related permits, said it “employs various tools, including inspections, reporting, continuous monitoring, testing and permitting to regulate the facility and protect the environment and public health.” It added that Shell’s latest construction proposal “contains corrective actions to resolve outstanding compliance issues and is currently out for public comment.”
Cracking and emissions
An ethane cracker plant uses extremely high temperatures to break down or “crack” ethane gas molecules into ethylene, which is then used to make polyethylene pellets for plastic products.
Whatever is not broken down into ethane must be disposed of by the plant, usually by setting the gases on fire to convert them to carbon dioxide and water before they enter the atmosphere. Excess emissions can come from leaks in the equipment or inefficient combustion, according to experts and litigation records.
Permits set limits on that pollution. Potential major sources of air pollution in Pennsylvania must operate under a temporary permit included in the plant’s construction and testing Plan Approval, or a long-term Title V operating permit. Both permits set maximum emission rates for 11 air contaminants, measured in rolling 12-month periods and enforceable under the federal Clean Air Act and the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act.
“The idea is that this [temporary plan] approval ensures that any new or modified sources comply with both state and federal air quality regulations before operations actually begin,” said Hilary Flint, a communications consultant for local environmental watchdog Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community.
In May 2023, a consent order and agreement between Shell and the DEP found that Shell had exceeded its permitted emissions level since its startup for four pollutants:
- Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs
- Carbon monoxide
- Hazardous Air Pollutants, or HAPs
- Nitrogen oxides, or NOx.
Shell was ordered to pay over $4.9 million to resolve the state’s claim for civil penalties, and an additional $5 million for projects “to benefit the environment, health and quality of life of the community near the facility.” Since then, no new fines or penalties have been issued despite regular violations.
One pollutant remained above permitted max
A massive spike when the plant opened in September 2022 inflated its average emissions for every 12-month period during the first year of its operation, followed by a clear dip when the start-up dropped from the rolling average sample.
NOx, however, remained consistently above permitted levels.
NOx forms from burning off excess gases from the ethylene production process. In small amounts, NOx irritates the eyes, nose, throat and respiratory system. In larger amounts it can cause respiratory and cardiovascular distress, and over time it can also contribute to asthma and cardiovascular disease. NOx can also react with other chemicals to form particulate matter and ozone, both of which are also harmful to humans.
Shell has exceeded NOx emissions caps, based on 12-month rolling averages, during each month since its launch. The company has received 23 Notices of Violation from the DEP informing them that exceeding the emissions cap “constitutes unlawful conduct and a public nuisance,” and that the notice “neither imposes nor waives any enforcement action.” DEP does not appear to have taken any other enforcement action. The DEP said in a statement it has collected civil penalties for violations through 2023 and noted the statute of limitations has not expired on subsequent offenses.
“I don’t understand how a facility continues to operate, let alone be eligible for permits, when they have 23 unresolved high-priority violations, in addition to the other violations that they do on a monthly basis,” Flint said.
State allows temporary permit to persist
Shell’s temporary operating permit in its first Plan Approval was good for 180 days before the plant needed to apply for an official Title V operating permit. Since filing its first extension application in August 2022, Shell has requested and received six additional 180-day extensions, with the most recent set to expire on April 28, 2026. It does not have a Title V permit.
“There is no solid answer why DEP keeps extending the temporary permits, but it’s to the chagrin of the community. Legally, there is no firm limit on the number of extensions,” the Clean Air Council wrote.
“Historically, plan approvals have been extended until a facility has demonstrated compliance during temporary operation under all terms and conditions of the plan approval, after which the operating permit application must be submitted,” the DEP wrote in an email to Public Source.
On Feb. 22, 2024, the DEP notified Shell that the deadline to submit a Title V Operating Permit application would be that June. Hilary Starcher-O’Toole, executive director of the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community, said the timelines of plan approval extensions and the Title V application show that Shell is in no hurry to fulfill its permitting requirements.
“If you look at the dates, you can see how close they line up,” said Starcher-O’Toole. “They wouldn’t even have [filed for a Title V] had they not been told that they had to do it.”
Shell submitted the application in June 2024 with a caveat: It would likely be moot, as an application for another Plan Approval — and the temporary operating permit that comes with it — was in the works.
The following May, the DEP reached out to Shell to request an updated application with the information in the fourth plan approval. Since then, Shell has requested and received two extensions on the updated Title V application.
Fines a ‘cost of doing business’
In an ongoing lawsuit originally filed in May 2023, the Environmental Integrity Project and Clean Air Council calculated that Shell could be liable for as much as $117,468 per day for each violation of the Clean Air Act, and $25,000 per day for each violation of Pennsylvania’s Air Pollution Control Act. This could lead to a maximum penalty around $134 million for the 31 NOx violations between May 2023 and December 2025.
The lawsuit seeks to require the plant to comply with state and federal environmental law and compensate for harms caused by violations to date, including by paying fines for the 31 months of excess NOx violations that remain unresolved.
Advocates are realistic about the likely extent of any resulting penalties.
“There’s never been a case, both in Pennsylvania or federally, of maximum enforcement of these fines,” the Council said in its statement to Public Source. “Usually, fines tally up to be far less, and polluters consider these fines as a normal part of doing business.”
The DEP spokesperson wrote that the agency “does not comment on possible future enforcement actions.”
DEP declined to comment on why its violation notices have not been followed by further enforcement.
Katherine Weaver is an editorial intern at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at katherine@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Jamese Platt.
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