W&J to host cracker plant symposium Sept. 18
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Washington & Jefferson College next month will host a symposium on the economic impacts the Beaver County cracker plant could have on the tri-state area.
The Ethane Cracker Plant Symposium will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 18 in the Allen Ballroom of Rossin Campus Center. It will be free and open to the public, but registration is requested at https://www.wjenergy.org/events. Lunch will be provided.
W&J’s Center for Energy Policy and Management and the Local Government Academy are organizing the event.
Speakers will include Robert Dunn Ph.D. and Leslie Dunn Ph.D., W&J economics professors. They conducted a yearlong study examining possible effects the plant could have on Western Pennsylvania. They found, among other things, counties with cracker plants are associated with higher employment levels.
Joining them at the microphone will be Rebecca Matsco, chairwoman, Potter Township supervisors; John Goberish, dean of Workforce Development & Continuing Education at Beaver County Community College; and Lance Grable, executive director of Beaver County Redevelopment Authority.
Shell Chemicals is building the $6 billion petrochemical facility along the Ohio River in Potter. As many as 6,000 workers are expected to be needed to complete the facility, which is targeted to open in the early 2020s. Once operational, the plant is expected to employ 400 to 600.
A cracker plant processes ethane from natural gas into ethylene, a key building block for chemical and plastics manufacturing.