Plastics Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Experts Weigh In On Permitting Suspension For Liquefied Natural Gas, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, a recent decision by the Biden administration to suspend permitting for new export terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has drawn criticism from West Virginia lawmakers. To hear what impact the decision has on United States LNG exports, Curtis Tate spoke with Sam Reynolds and Ana Maria Jaller-Markarewicz of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

On this West Virginia Morning, a recent decision by the Biden administration to suspend permitting for new export terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has drawn criticism from West Virginia lawmakers. To hear what impact the decision has on United States LNG exports, Curtis Tate spoke with Sam Reynolds and Ana Maria Jaller-Markarewicz of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Also, in this show, the U.S. has seen a huge buildout in plants using fossil fuels to make plastics over the last decade. A new report finds those plants routinely break environmental laws, even though they receive major subsidies from taxpayers. The Allegheny Front’s Reid Frazier reports Shell’s ethane cracker in Beaver County, Pennsylvania was given over $1 billion in tax breaks yet violated its air pollution permit even before opening.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Eric Douglas is our news director and producer.

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Competing Reports Offer Different Outlook On Ohio Valley’s Petrochemical Future

A new report by the Trump administration suggests the Ohio Valley’s growing petrochemical industry could be an unprecedented source of economic opportunity and growth when the county, and region, eventually emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the assessment is drawing criticism from environmental groups and some financial analysts that warn the risk is growing for plastics and petrochemical manufacturers.

The Department of Energy assessment released Tuesday makes the case that natural gas production in the region, which includes parts of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, will continue to grow in the coming decades. The report argues the region is on the “cusp of an energy and petrochemical renaissance” due to the fact that gas extracted from the region is rich in natural gas liquids, including ethane, the building block of many plastics and chemicals, and the Ohio Valley’s proximity to the bulk of downstream manufacturers.

“The trifecta of potential growth in energy, petrochemical manufacturing, and other energy intensive and advanced manufacturing brings the promise of a renaissance to the Appalachian region,”the report states.

The 75-page document was commissioned under president Donald Trump’s April 2019 executive order “Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth.” Six additional federal agencies and the Appalachian Regional Commission contributed.

Although the report recommends continued support and investment from federal, state and local governments, it places the onus on the private sector to lure new petrochemical and manufacturing plants. Private investment has been negatively affected by the pandemic’s economic effects.

The Trump administration has been a stalwart supporter of boosting the region’s petrochemical industry. The president toured Shell Chemical’s soon-to-be completed ethane cracker complex in Monaca, Pennsylvania, last August.

Officials in the region have been working on the so-called Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub for nearly a decade. The natural gas storage hub cleared its first major hurdle in 2018 when it got approval for the first of two phases for a $1.9 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan. A previous DOE report, requested by lawmakers in Congress, found the hub is crucial for growing the region’s petrochemical industry.

Financial Risk

Sarah Carballo, a communications specialist with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, a regional advocacy group, said the new DOE report did not take into account the growing financial risk associated with a regional petrochemical industry buildout, or the concerns of some residents in the region.

“Communities across Appalachia deserve viable, fair and sustainable economic transition strategies that protect public health and environmental quality,” she said. “So, instead of investing in petrochemicals and coal as a basis for economic renaissance — industries that poisoned our land, air, water, communities — we think it’s time for our leaders to explore more feasible and sustainable economic development strategies that provide long term prosperity for the people of our region.”

An analysis released last month by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a think tank whose mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse and sustainable energy economy, painted a much less rosy picture for the Ohio Valley’s budding petrochemical industry.

The report focused on Shell’s petrochemical complex currently under construction near Pittsburgh in Beaver County. Once completed, the facility will include an ethane cracker and polyethylene production complex slated to produce 1.6 million tons of ethylene each year and permanently employ about 600 workers, according to the company.

The IEEFA analysis found changing market conditions, exacerbated further by the coronavirus pandemic, call into question the economic viability of Shell’s cracker plant and other investments in the Ohio Valley. For example, the prices of plastics have dropped from around $1 per pound from 2012-2016 to roughly half that today.

On Wednesday, IEEFA’s director of finance, Tom Sanzillo, said recent disclosures by Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical America regarding its proposed petrochemical plant planned in Belmont County, Ohio, show that the project is also facing similar financial risks.

State officials in Ohio have provided millions of dollars in grants and other economic incentives to the facility, which was first proposed in 2013. In a recent press release, the company pushed back its final investment decision by six to nine months.

As Ohio Valley Ponders Plastics Growth, Report Warns Of Threat to Climate

As a new plastics industry emerges in the Ohio Valley, a report by environmental groups warns that the expansion of plastics threatens the world’s ability to keep climate change at bay.

The report released Wednesday by the Center for International Environmental Law, Environmental Integrity Project, FracTracker Alliance, and others used publicly available emissions data and original research to measure greenhouse gas emissions throughout the entire life cycle of plastics. That includes the extraction of natural gas, used as a feedstock for plastic production, to the incineration of plastic products or their final resting place in the world’s oceans.

“Ninety-nine percent of what goes into plastics is fossil fuels and their climate impacts actually start at the wellhead and the drill pad,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the nonprofit Center for International Environmental Law and one of the authors of the report. “In light of the fact that the build-out of plastics infrastructure is ongoing and accelerating, we wanted to better understand the implications of that massive new build out of plastics infrastructure for the global climate.”

Fossil-Fueled Plastics

The report estimates production and incineration of plastic this year will add more than 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, or equal to the pollution of building 189 new coal-fired power plants.

That figure will rise substantially over the next few decades as the demand for single-use plastic continues to grow, the report finds. By 2050, emissions from the entire plastics life cycle could account for as much as 14 percent of the earth’s entire remaining carbon budget.

Plastics manufacturers are investing millions into new petrochemical plants, including in the Ohio Valley, driven by demand and cheap natural gas from the fracking boom.

For example, the report cites Shell’s Monaca ethane cracker plant currently under construction in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. It’s permitted to release up to 2.25 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually. Similarly, Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical is seeking permits for a cracker plant in Belmont County, Ohio, across the Ohio River from West Virginia.

The plant would be permitted to release the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of putting about 365,000 cars on the road. Muffett said that sort of increased investment in plastics manufacturing was one of the main reasons the groups decided to highlight the climate implications associated with plastics.

“This petrochemical build-out is a key driver of plastics contribution to climate impacts now and in the future,” he said. “This build-out is going to lead to the production of massive quantities of new plastics. It’s also going to lead to the incineration and disposal of massive amounts of new plastics.”

Industry Response

In a statement, the trade group the American Chemistry Council said the report missed the mark because it failed to take into account that plastics are increasingly replacing heavier, more energy-intensive materials, which can reduce emissions during both the manufacturing process and during transportation.

“Because plastics are strong and lightweight, they help us do more with less,” stated Steve Russell, vice president of the group’s plastics division. “Plastics help us ship more product with less packaging, which means fewer trucks on the road; plastics help make our vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient, so we go further on a gallon of gas; and plastic insulation and sealants help make our homes and buildings significantly more energy efficient by sealing off outdoor temperatures.”

The report also outlined a gap in emissions data for the plastics life cycle, particularly in its infancy, when natural gas is being extracted and transported to refineries and other manufacturing facilities.

“Throughout that process, there are significant emissions, and many of them remain unquantified,” Muffett said. “Even many of the sources of emissions, like compressor stations, or the miles of pipelines involved, official estimates of how many compressor stations there are can vary by an order of magnitude, and that means that there are really fundamental senses in which the data for understanding the scale of this problem just isn’t there. And it needs to be there.”

The report also called for additional research into the impacts of microplastic pollution in the world’s oceans, including more study of the ways in which microplastics may be negatively impacting the ability of oceans to take up carbon emissions.

Governor Adds Pleasants County to Polymer Alliance Zone

Pleasants County has joined an organization that promotes West Virginia’s plastics and polymer industries.

An executive order signed recently by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin added Pleasants County to the Polymer Alliance Zone. The organization also serves Mason, Jackson and Wood counties.

Pleasants County Development Authority executive director J. McGoldrick says in a news release that the authority and the Polymer Alliance Zone will cooperatively market the county to plastics and polymer companies.