The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Occasion found your humble narrator, within the confines of his car, alongside the Ohio River, in a municipality called ‘Monaca.’

Atop an island on the Ohio River is found a plastic factory operated by the Shell Corporation. Officially, it’s a ‘cracker plant,’ meaning that raw hydrocarbons enter the place and then get turned into something else via the art of engineers, and chemists.

This plant is a big deal – both economically and environmentally.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I’m told that the hydrocarbon feedstock which it manipulates emanates from a nearby horizontal drilling/fracked gas operation. The plastics manufactured here are the sort you’d need if you were planning on making plastic soda bottles.

Basically, that’s a giant garbage machine pictured above, with a century long source of raw material and fuel. Gas comes in one side, and landfill destined ‘forever’ plastic future garbage pours out of the other.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Saying that… jobs, jobs, jobs… blame Joe Biden… blah, blah, blah.

The economic impact of the plant on this locality has been profound, which is something you don’t necessarily need to ‘look up’ to witness.

Fewer abandoned homes locally, businesses on the nearby ‘main drag’ are open and not confined to housing ‘vape shops’ or other low hanging retail fruit. The roads are serviceably paved. There was a Police presence.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

People need plastic bottles, to temporarily possess liquids, don’t they? So what if it’ll take centuries in a landfill for them all to break down into different toxins – if at all. Sigh…

Here’s the official/non environmentalist slanted take/POV on Shell’s garbage factory in Pennsylvania:

Via Google’s AI:

The Shell Polymers Monaca plant is a $14 billion petrochemical complex in Beaver County, PA, completed in late 2022. It transforms ethane from shale gas into polyethylene pellets for plastics, drawing controversy over environmental violations, pollution, and a $1.65 billion state tax break. The plant is exploring a potential sale amid financial and environmental concerns. 

Key Details About the Plant:

• Location: Potter Township, Beaver County, along the Ohio River near Monaca, PA.
• Operation: Uses an ethane cracker to produce polyethylene pellets (HDPE and LLDPE) for food packaging, industrial products, and consumer goods.
• Construction: Spans 386 acres, with peak construction employing nearly 9,500 workers.
• Environmental Concerns: The plant has experienced multiple air quality violations, high emissions from flaring, and noise/light pollution, leading to concerns from residents and environmental groups.
• Economic Impact: While promising jobs and economic growth, the project is also notable for the massive, 25-year, $1.65 billion state tax credit incentive, which critics have debated.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One had navigated himself in this direction (about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh) for a couple of other, and quite mundane, purposes but since I was ‘in the neighborhood’ – why not stop off to get a few shots?

My usual methodology of scanning the path ahead, through the Google Maps street view technology, had been employed. That activity brought me over to a riverfront park, and a few street ends, here in the community of Monaca.

It was lovely, the park, and it provided sweet points of view on an overcast day. One needed to move on, however, so…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Since I was in ‘the neighborhood’ anyway, a visit was also paid to the gargantuan Conway Rail Yard operated by the Norfolk Southern Railroading outfit, over in a nearby PA. community called Freedom.

More on all that tomorrow.

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