Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has lost jobs, businesses and people. But Shell says its complex has created nearly 500 jobs and paid $52 million in taxes, royalties and fees.

Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has lost jobs, businesses and people. But Shell says its complex has created nearly 500 jobs and paid $52 million in taxes, royalties and fees.

A Shell petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania has failed to deliver many promised economic benefits to the surrounding county since it was announced more than a decade ago, according to an analysis released Friday by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a longtime critic of the project.

Beaver County, northwest of Pittsburgh, has lagged both the state and the nation in measures including growth in gross domestic product, employment and number of businesses since the company unveiled plans to build the massive $14 billion plant in 2012, the report said.

The report said that “by nearly every measure of economic activity, today Beaver County is worse off than it was before the Shell plant was announced in 2012. Today, Beaver County has fewer jobs, fewer businesses, and fewer residents.”

Shell spokeswoman Natalie Gunnell declined to comment on the specifics of the new report but said the plant has helped the local economy.

  • WHARRGARBL@lemmy.world
    9·
    1 day ago

    Shell says it paid $52 million in taxes, royalties, and fees.

    No mention of the state and local government tax credit of $1.65 BILLION for this plant.

    • VeganPizza69 Ⓥ@lemmy.vgEnglish
      3·
      6 hours ago

      The predictions of an economic boom led the state under then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, to grant Shell a record tax break of $1.65 billion.

      The report’s co-author, Eric de Place, called the tax breaks a “sweetheart deal” for Shell but a “disaster” for Pennsylvania taxpayers.