Dilles Bottom, OH: Thailand and South Korea owned ethylene plant

(Satellite)

(Jul 2020 Update: the South Korean company has withdrawn from this project. [AdvertiserTribune] So far, $270m has been spent on planning, engineering and site preparation.)

Bechtel, who is already doing Shell's plant in Monaca, PA, has been selected to build a $10b plant on a former coal power plant site. [TheIntelligencer (source: Lukas Irons post)]

The FirstEnergy R. E. Burger power station has already been removed from the land.

IndependenceDemolition

We have seen the euphemisms of "controlled demolition" and "energetic felling" to avoid the terminology of "blowing up." Now we learn of "explosive felling."
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"PTT, based in Thailand, has been studying and assessing the local market since at least late 2015, when it announced it would tap into the region’s large concentration of wet gas from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling....PTT has yet to make a final investment decision on the local project. If built, PTT has said they anticipate the plant would produce 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene annually. " Unlike the Shell plant, they evidently plan to market ethylene instead of polyethylene. [TheIntelligencer]

These companies making more feedstock for plastic better hope that better plastic recycling solutions are developed or a backlash against plastics may shrink their market. I was wondering if these Asian companies plan to barge feedstocks down to Baton Rouge and then ship it to Asian markets. As with coal, the Asian markets probably won't dry up as fast as the American market. (E.g. paper straws are already making a comeback.) And since the Asian countries don't have oil or gas, shipping feedstocks from the wet gas area of America may be the cheapest way to feed their plastics industries. But the article explicitly says "local market" instead of "Asian market."

I sure hope these plants are being built to avoid polluting the air and water independent of current EPA regulations. As we have learned with the black lung disease in coal mining and cancer in asbestos processing, jobs that kill you are not good jobs. And jobs that harm people in the area are even worse.

Update: The Arabs are thinking of building a polyethelene plant on the U.S. Gulf Coast. (post)
Dennis DeBruler Shell is doing several $billion in PA, a couple of Asian companies are doing several $billion in OH, and now a several $billion plant in TX. Given that there could be a backlash against plastics, I would be worried about oversupply and poor ROI. Is this Texas plant also tapping "wet gas" like the PA and OH plants plan to do? I see in the article they plan to make polyethylene. That should be easy to export. But the article explicitly states they expect a US market to grow.
Lukas Irons People find a reason to bitch about anything.
Dennis DeBruler At the risk of being perceived as bitching, I've learned that a lot of the plastic resin is exported:
https://www.joc.com/.../global-market-diversification...
Tariffs have reduced the amount exported to China. But the exporters have found replacement markets.
It turns out the two new plants on the Ohio River are just a couple of big drops in a bucket.
"Since shale gas production began to ramp up in 2016, a dozen plants have opened in the US, Mexico, and Canada, according to Joel Morales, senior director of polyolefins for North America at IHS Markit. Another 16 plants are scheduled or likely to come online between this year’s [2019] third quarter and 2024, resulting in a total increased capacity from North America of 3.5 million metric tons, he said. "

safe_image for post by Lukas Irons for: Report: Bechtel Selected to Build PTT Ethane Cracker in Belmont County
Well as many hurdles as they've cleared, I'm surprised the Dilles Bottom Project has come this far. Can it clear more hurdles?