The Times NEWS Beaver County cracker plant 70% built, Shell says The company is now commissioning utility systems at the plant. Chrissy Suttles Beaver County Times Published 6:26 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2020 Updated 7:22 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2020 POTTER TWP. Construction of Shell Chemicals' $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Potter Township is about 70% complete, Shell leadership said Tuesday. Hilary Mercer, vice president of Shell Polymers, told virtual Shale Insight guests the company is now commissioning utility systems at the plant, although it's still unclear when the petrochemical complex will be commercially operational. "There's still a lot of work to do during the commissioning phase, she said. The pandemic forced Shell to temporarily halt project construction in March, but workforce numbers have steadily climbed to pre-pandemic levels. The company implemented an on-site COVID-19 testing lab to limit spread months ago; roughly four dozen people have tested positive for the virus since March, but active cases remain low, according to daily information provided to cracker plant employees. "We had to convince ourselves that we could keep a workforce of 6,000-plus people working consistently through this COVID epidemic before we could even start to think about how would that look in terms of our overall schedule," Mercer said. "We've now got to a point where we believe we can keep that number working safely." Shell's Falcon Pipeline, which will transport up to 107,000 barrels of ethane daily to the cracker plant, is 95% completed, Mercer said. The pipeline connects southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio in the Marcellus and Utica shale reservoirs - traveling 22.5 miles through Independence, Greene, Raccoon and Potter townships. The full line is now underground, but above-ground facilities are still in progress. Mercer said Shell will use locally produced ethane to feed the plant, but the company could service anywhere in the United States through rail and truck transportation. The priority, though, will be locations within a 700-mile radius of the complex, she said. "About 10 different suppliers can bring gas into the plant through the Falcon, but we source all of our ethane within the tri-state region," she said. Once open, the site will convert oil and gas into ethylene, used in plastics manufacturing to make a range of products from automotive parts to food packaging. It will eventually support 600 permanent jobs in the region. With questions mounting about the environmental sustainability and economic longevity of plastics, Mercer argued the industry is here to stay. "It's in absolutely everything we do and it plays a large part, she said. "If you imagine the weight of a car maybe 30 or 40 years ago, and the weight of that car today ... so much of that car is made of plastic that it actually lightweights the car, makes the car more efficient and use less fuel. Therefore, it's also good for the planet." The annual Shale Insight conference kicked off Tuesday with oil, gas and other industry supporters sharing their economic outlooks following six months of COVID-19. Tuesday speakers included U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh County, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. Brouillette, who just last week toured Beaver County's ethane cracker to highlight the importance of Appalachian natural gas, rebuked any efforts to impose a fracking ban in Pennsylvania or nationwide. He said American natural gas production is vital to economic and national security. New England residents pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, he said, because of the region's reluctance to invest in and expand natural gas production. Brouillette said reducing reliance on natural gas would cut jobs and harm the economy, repeating unsubstantiated claims that a fracking ban would eliminate 600,000 Pennsylvania jobs. Last year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a study suggesting 609,000 jobs and $261 billion in gross domestic product would be lost in the state within five years if lawmakers were to ban fracking. The average Pennsylvania consumer would see his cost of living increase by $4,654 in that time, researchers said. At a recent campaign stop in Latrobe, President Donald Trump told the crowd that 940,000 jobs were supported by natural gas in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, though, shows the state's fracking industry supports between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs. Labor department numbers show direct employment in natural gas development totaled less than 20,000 in 2016, with tens of thousands more supported indirectly. "Make no mistake, (fracking bans) would not only harm our economic security but our national security, forcing more Americans to rely on the mercy of unfriendly powers like Moscow," Brouillette said. Question Why is this project a good (or bad) idea for Shell? For Pennsylvania?