Shell’s $4 billion proposal to build a petrochemical complex on the site of the former Horsehead Corp. zinc smelter in Monaca, Pennsylvania, was on display Wednesday at two events at a banquet facility overlooking a golf course near the community, which lies about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
If constructed, Shell’s ethane cracker would feed production of 1.5 million mt/year of ethylene, 500,000 mt/year of gas-phased high density polyethylene, 500,000 mt/year of slurry HDPE, and 500,000 mt/year of linear low density polyethylene. Shell and Horsehead have extended Shell’s option to buy the Horsehead site along the Ohio River three times, most recently in December.
But the details of the proposal were not the main focus of Wednesday’s event. There was no PowerPoint presentation. No Q&A session. No leaflets. And significantly, still no indication that the project had been clearly decided as a “go.”
Instead, Shell sought an “opportunity to be more personal” with the two three-hour, unstructured events, said Kim Windon, a company spokeswoman.
Throughout the room were six “stations” on everything from safety and the environment to job opportunities and the (very preliminary) project plans. Shell employees, in blue collared shirts, were stationed throughout the room to answer questions as attendees snacked on complimentary food and soft drinks and entered a raffle to win an iPad. Surveys and business cards emblazoned with “We’re listening” were scattered on tables throughout the room.
A Shell employee handed small red chips to attendees to place in fishbowls with 11 different labels: air quality, economic benefits, facility design, jobs, light, noise, products, roads and traffic, safety, water and wildlife. Attendees placed red chips in the bowls that piqued their interest to signal their concerns to Shell.
Dan Carlson, the business development manager for the project, said the event was in response to the “high level of interest and speculation” about the project.
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He noted Shell has not made a final investment decision and is still working to secure feedstock suppliers, permits and design work. “You need all of those things in hand” before a final investment decision can be made, Carlson said.
In brief remarks to the 100 or so attendees, Carlson said the turnout shows support for the project, which he said would bring about 10,000 temporary construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs to the region.
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