EPA issues permits for potential cracker plant on Ohio River
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recently issued an air permit for a potential cracker plant along the Ohio River, several miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia, according to Columbus Business First.
The permit is one of the final regulatory hurdles the project needed to clear before Thailand-based PTTGCA and South Korea-based Daelim Industrial Co. make a final decision on it.
The permit allows the company to construct a 1.5 million tons-per-year ethane cracker plant that would bring “thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent positions to the region,” according to a press release for the EPA.
Learn more: Columbus Business First > Ohio cracker plant granted permit, clearing way for construction
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Shale FAQ
What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
Is it safe?
What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
Will my water catch on fire?
Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.