The petrochemical companies who have proposed building a billion-dollar ethane cracker plant on a 500-acre tract of land in Belmont County, Ohio, have finally reached a settlement agreement with environmental groups in regards to air pollution controls, according to Ohio Valley Resources.

It wasn’t long after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued an air permit for the project last December, that the Sierra Club, Freshwater Accountability Project and Earthworks challenged it. The environmental groups argued that the air pollution controls mandated by Ohio EPA were not sufficient. 

The original permit allowed the plant to emit 400 tons of volatile organic compounds annually. The agreement, signed earlier this week, will require Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical America and South Korea-based Daelim Industrial Co., the companies who’ve proposed the project, to use technology to find pollution leaks and repair them. Additionally, they will have to install a weather station on-site and create a website available to the public with emissions data.

Learn more: Ohio Valley Resources > Settlement Reached Over Proposed Ohio Cracker Plant Air Permit