DEP to hold hearings next month on Falcon ethane pipeline
State environmental regulators will hold public hearings in Washington and two other counties next month on a proposal to build a new pipeline to feed Shell’s ethane cracker plant in Beaver County.
The state Department of Environmental Protection announced the public hearings and a two-month extension for the comment period on some of Shell Pipeline Co.’s applications for the project last month, citing “a significant number” of requests for additional time to give input on applications related to the Falcon ethane pipeline.
Of the total 97 ½ miles of new pipeline, about 45 ½ would run through Pennsylvania, starting at MarkWest’s Houston plant in Chartiers Township and stretching through parts of Beaver and Allegheny counties.
Another leg would start at facilities in the Ohio township of Utica and Cadiz and pass through the northern West Virginia panhandle en route to the cracker in Potter Township.
DEP will host a hearing April 4 at Burgettstown Area Middle/High School in Smith Township on Shell’s applications for water obstruction and encroachment and earth disturbance permits. Similar hearings will take place on April 3 at Central Valley High School in Center Township, Beaver County, and April 5 at Quaker Valley High School in Sewickley, Allegheny County.
Citizens will be allowed to testify for as long as three minutes at the proceedings. DEP also will take written comments until April 17.
Those who want to testify can preregister by calling DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley at 412-442-4203, or register on-site starting at 6 p.m. before each hearing. The hearings begin at 6:30 p.m.