Columbus, OH -- As a result of a legal challenge to a massive proposed petrochemical facility in Belmont County, the company behind the project will implement several critical air pollution concerns that state regulators failed to address.
The plant, known as an “ethane cracker,” is one of five proposed petrochemical plants in the Ohio Valley that would use byproducts from fracked gas to make plastic. Along with a large network of proposed fracked gas pipelines along the Ohio River, the plants would make up the nation’s second largest petrochemical complex. The largest is located in southern Louisiana along the Mississippi River, in an area known as “Cancer Alley” because of the high rates of illness among nearby communities. Ethane crackers are known to release toxic air pollution, including cancer-causing benzene and other pollutants.
Ignoring testimony from concerned citizens at public hearings on the plant, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued PTT Global Chemical America (PTTG) an air permit for the project last year. In an appeal to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission, the Sierra Club, Earthworks, Center for Biological Diversity, and Freshwater Accountability Project argued that OEPA grossly underestimated the amount of pollution to be emitted from the plant and should have required more effective technology to reduce those emissions.
A settlement agreement signed today as a result of that appeal will require PTTG to take common sense measures to limit air pollution around the facility that OEPA failed to require. Now, if the facility is constructed, the company will be forced to use modern technologies to identify and repair leaks of hazardous air pollutants, conduct a second round of tests of its largest sources of air pollution to insure their compliance with air pollution limits, collect data on local weather conditions for assessing the plant’s health impact and disclose information about its emissions to the public. Despite the important improvements in today’s settlement, the plant continues to pose a serious public health risk to nearby communities, and opposition to the proposed project remains strong.
“Communities shouldn’t be forced to breathe toxic, polluted air just to prop up fracked gas and petrochemical companies. It’s shameful that our state’s regulators have failed to adequately protect our communities from this proposed facility, and with the deck stacked in favor of corporate polluters, today’s settlement is the best available compromise,” said Sierra Club Organizer Cheryl Johncox. “This agreement will help protect local communities from dangerous air pollution should this facility be built, and we’ll continue to fight to ensure that it never comes to that.”
"When the Ohio EPA granted PTTGCA a very inadequate air permit last year, Ohio River Valley residents responded with this challenge,” said Ohio resident Bev Reed. “While the settlement represents an improvement, if the plant is built, it would still present major threats to the Ohio Valley by way of air pollution, water discharge into the River, and a very large increased need for hydraulic fracking in our region, just to name a few. We will continue to advocate for a healthier region because our future generations deserve that. A cracker plant is a bad idea for the Ohio Valley."