Pennsylvania Elites, the Heinz and Haas Families, Employ Their Shills in Lawfare Campaign Against Shell
The Clean Air Council, a shill for the Heinz and Haas families, is employing a continuous lawfare campaign against Shell's cracker plant and the jobs of ordinary Pennsylvanians who work there.
Guest Post by Jim Willis at Marcellus Drilling News.
n May 2023, two radicalized Big Green groups—the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)—filed a lawsuit against the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant (ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), claiming the plant has repeatedly violated federal air pollution limits (see Radical Antis File Lawsuit Aiming to Shut Down Shell PA Cracker).
The lawsuit requested the court assess huge fines and force it to close down unless it can operate without any further violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and the federal Air Pollution Control Act (APCA). The same two groups are back 17 months later, telling Shell via a “notice of intent to sue” that they will soon file the same type of lawsuit again.
What happened to the first lawsuit? A few weeks after filing that lawsuit, Shell signed a consent order with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), agreeing to pay the state $10 million (shakedown money) to resolve “violations” of flaring at the plant multiple times (see Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now).
We assumed the Shell/DEP settlement made the Big Green lawsuit filed by EIP and CAC moot. It did not. We checked the court docket and found it still has not been resolved. Indeed, there was activity in the docket as of yesterday! Here’s a portion of the docket showing recent activity:
Even though the first lawsuit is not resolved, the Big Green groups are back trying to take another bite at the apple. They claim the federal EPA and the state DEP are not forcing Shell to comply with the federal Clean Air Act and the state Air Pollution Control Act. Using some obscure law, the groups claim they have the right to initiate a new lawsuit (which, if they win, will no doubt richly compensate them and their high-priced lawyers).
The PA Environment Digest Blog has the news:
On October 23, 2024, the Clean Air Council and the Environment Integrity Project filed a notice of intent to sue the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Beaver County for emitting particulate matter (PM 2.5) and nitrogen oxides in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, the state Air Pollution Control Act and the plant’s permit.
“As of the date of this letter, neither EPA nor DEP have commenced a civil action in federal or state court, nor has DEP initiated litigation before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board” to require Shell Chemical to comply with air pollution regulations and its permit.
The notice of intent gives EPA and DEP 60 days to take some action before the groups file their action in federal court.
The groups said they will ask for “appropriate injunctive relief and civil penalties and to require a beneficial environmental project” in the areas directly impacted by the air pollution emissions.
Not The First Action
On February 2, 2023 and February 17, 2024, these same groups filed two notices of intent to sue the Shell Petrochemical Plant, again over air pollution violations. On May 11, 2024, they filed the lawsuit in federal court.
On May 24, 2023, DEP signed a consent order with the Shell Petrochemical Plant that included $5 million in penalties and a $5 million community benefit project.
Here is the full letter announcing the further lawfare.
Editor's Note: Here's an article I wrote nine years ago about the Clean Air Council, which explains why I refer to it as an elitist shill group. Likewise for the Environmental Integrity Project, another such group, which I reviewed here.
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