On July 10, the Department of Environmental Protection announced the members of a steering committee who will be tasked with developing a protocol to allocate $5 million in funding for community projects in Beaver County from the settlement of Shell Petrochemical Plant air quality violations.

The Environmental Mitigation Fund steering committee will take public feedback into account as they develop the allocation protocol and will host an open meeting for the public on Thursday, July 13, 2023, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Community College of Beaver County’s Learning Resources Center (Room 9103) at 1 Campus Drive, Monaca, PA 15061.

Community organizations with representation on the steering committee, RiverWise and Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community, will livestream the meeting on each organization’s Facebook pages to maximize community participation and access.

The committee and staff from DEP’s Office of Environmental Justice will be on hand to provide information and answer questions about the fund.

The $5 million Environmental Mitigation Community Fund is one of the largest funds in Pennsylvania history and is a direct result of Governor Shapiro taking action to hold Shell accountable and deliver real results for Western Pennsylvania.

This multi-million dollar payment secured by the Shapiro Administration is going to provide real help for affected Pennsylvania communities.

“We are committed to working closely with Beaver County residents to ensure that this historic $5 million is an investment in the community,” said DEP Secretary Rich Negrin. “Under Governor Shapiro’s leadership, the Department of Environmental Protection will continue to hold Shell accountable and protect Pennsylvanians’ constitutional right to clean air and water. Thanks to the Environmental Mitigation Community Fund, the people of Western Pennsylvania will receive $5 million for projects to benefit the environment, heath, and quality of life in their community – and we will ensure they have a real voice in determining how that funding is spent.”

In accordance with the May 24, 2023 consent order and agreement, OEJ convened a steering committee to develop the process to allocate funds for community projects.

The protocol will also outline the process for seeking, evaluating, and supporting projects and the creation of a financial entity to hold the funds.

The 17-member steering committee is comprised of representatives from organizations serving Beaver County and those spearheading environmental justice within DEP.

Steering Committee members include--

-- Terrie Baumgardner, Clean Air Council, BMAC

-- Kolbe Cole, TRAILS Ministries

-- Veronica Coptis, Taproot Earth

-- Roger Davis, Community College of Beaver County

-- Lisa DePaoli, DEP Environmental Justice Advisory Board, Center for Coalfield Justice

-- Cindy Gormley, Aliquippa Economic Development Corporation

-- Mary Lou Harju, United Way of Beaver County

-- Heather Hulton VanTassel, Three Rivers Waterkeeper

-- Cheryl King, Franklin Center of Beaver County

-- Matt Mehalik, Breathe Project

-- Norm Mitry, Heritage Valley Health System

-- Pastor Caleb Mussleman, The SOMA Gathering

-- anaïs peterson, Earthworks

-- Daniel Rossi-Keen, RiverWise

-- Tom Torres, DEP EJAB, Ohio River Valley Institute

-- Fernando Treviño, DEP Special Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice

-- Seth Whitted, Whitted Media/The Genesis Collective

“We are employing community-based decision making, environmental justice principles, and transparency to maximize the positive impact of this fund,” added DEP’s Special Deputy Secretary for OEJ, Fernando Treviño. “What makes this Environmental Mitigation Community Fund unique is the community involvement and engagement through every step of the process.”

Funding Decisions Committee

A separate, yet-to-be-formed, committee will make funding decisions.

Ultimately, DEP will invite applications for projects to benefit the environment, health, and quality of life of the community near the facility for funding.

Information on the community fund, permitting, and compliance information is available on DEP’s Shell Petrochemical Plant webpage for the facility.

July 12 Eyes On Shell

The next meeting of the Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community Eyes On Shell monitoring program is July 12 at 7:30 p.m.  [PaEN]

Click Here to register.

NewsClip:

-- Living On Earth: Shell Petrochemical Plastics Plant Pollutes

Resource Links:

-- Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community: Eyes On Shell

-- Ohio River Valley Institute: Shell Petrochemical Plant Fails To Deliver For Local Economy

Related Articles - Shell Plant:

-- Residents, Environmental Groups Rally Against Shell Petrochemical Plant's Pollution In Beaver County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Signs Consent Order Including $10 Million In Penalties, Local Payments With Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County To Resolve Air Quality Violations; Plant To Restart May 24  [PaEN]

-- Groups File Federal Lawsuit Against Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County For Air Pollution Violations  [PaEN]

-- Intense, Bright White Light From The Shell Plastics Plant Turns Night Into Day For Many Neighbors Of The Beaver County Plant  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- Public News Service: Report: Oil And Gas Air Pollution Effects On Health Of Pennsylvanians 

-- TribLive: Protect PT Seeks Support For Proposed Ordinance Regulating Shale Gas Wells In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County; Meeting July 13

-- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: The Law Did Not Save Grant Township’s Water From PA General Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well, The People Of Grant Did

-- StateImpactPA - Susan Phillips: New Sinkhole Forms [Again] Along Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline In Chester County

-- Independent Fiscal Office Reports PA Natural Gas Production Peaked In 4th Quarter 2021 [PaEN]

-- US Energy Information Administration: 2022 Appalachian Natural Gas Production Flat With Productivity Declines In Key Counties In PA

-- Bloomberg: Sweet Spot For Building New US LNG Natural Gas Projects Is Fading

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Have Biggest Weekly Loss Of The Year

-- Bloomberg: European Power Prices Fall Below Zero This Weekend With Green Power Boom 

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 8 to 14; Failed Shale Gas, Conventional Well Plugging; Leaking Conventional Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - July 15  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Risk Assessment Did Not Prove Chemicals Polluting Soil & Groundwater At American Refinery Group’s Bradford Petroleum Refinery Met Safe Environmental Cleanup Standards  [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On CNX Midstream Project To Expose Natural Gas, Water/Wastewater Pipelines To Prevent Longwall Coal Mining Damage In Greene County  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 60 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 15 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- DEP Secretary Negrin To Citizen Activists: ‘We Don’t Represent Chevron, We Don’t Represent Shell And I’ve Made That Absolutely Clear-- We’re Holding Those Leaders Accountable’  [PaEN]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Do Oil & Gas Drillers Owe Taxpayers Royalties For Oil & Gas Under Roads, Streets, Bridges And Other Taxpayer-Owned Land?  [PaEN]

-- EQB No Longer Has Statutory Authority To Change Conventional Oil & Gas Well Bonding Amounts To Help Prevent 400 to 600 New Well Abandonments A Year; Adopts Proposed Changes To Water Quality Standards For Comment  [PaEN]

-- PA Eligible To Apply For $76.4 Million In Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding To Plug Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Conventional Operators Still Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts Draft Final Chapter 105 Environmental Assessment Alternatives Analysis; Will Discuss At Agricultural Advisory Board Meeting July 18  [PaEN]

-- DEP Announces July 13 Local Steering Committee Meeting For $5 Million Shell Petrochemical Plant Community Fund  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reminder Of July 25 Hearing On Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Clara Twp., Potter County

-- MethaneSAT-EDF Successfully Test Methane Detection Technology To Be Used To Document Methane Emissions From Onshore Natural Gas Production In North America  [PaEN]

-- DEP Blog: Do You Know What’s Below? Gasoline Stations And Aging Underground Storage Tanks In Pennsylvania [PaEN]

[Posted: July 10, 2023]

7/17/2023