Pittsburgh-area site is chosen for major refinery

[IDemo]

Source: Associated Press

PITTSBURGH March 15, 2012, 12:49 pm ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Shell Oil Co. has chosen a site near Pittsburgh for a major new petrochemical refinery that could provide a huge economic boost to the region.

Dan Carlson, Shell's General Manager of New Business Development, said Thursday that the company signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corp. to evaluate a site near Monaca, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had all sought the plant and offered Shell major tax incentives. Monaca is just 20 miles from both the Ohio and West Virginia borders, so workers in all three states are likely to benefit.

But Shell said the Monaca site, currently home to Horsehead's zinc factory, had the mix of resource and transportation attributes "to accommodate facilities for a world scale petrochemical complex and potential future expansions."

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148683577

[Cirque du So-What]

1. From the article:

Ohio and West Virginia officials had made all-out efforts to attract the plant. Last year West Virginia Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette said, "We intend to compete with the last breath in our body to attract one or more crackers,"...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148683577

Congrats, West Virginia. You've already exceeded your goal beyond our wildest imagination in that regard.

[IDemo]

2. Funny and appropriate on two levels

One, the obvious "crackers" reference. Two, the "last breath in our body"; it fits for the topic of creating more petroleum product.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Yeah, I caught that too

but decided instead to go for the cheap laugh.

[Arctic Dave]

6. I think he is refering to a "hydrocracker"

Also known as a "Unifiner"

[IDemo]

7. Obviously it's a refining term

but the double entendre, intentional or not, is hard to miss.

[appleannie1]

4. Gee, they just spent millions tearing down all the refineries in the Oil City Area and moving them

to the Gulf Coast. Now they want to bring them back?

[Vincardog]

5. For tax breaks and to lock int their plans to Frack the environment, $16,000,000,000/x,000jobs=?/job

West Virginia offered to slash property tax rates for 25 years in exchange of at least $2 billion worth of investment, Pennsylvania offered 15 years of tax breaks, while Ohio also reportedly courted Shell with major incentives.

The American Chemistry Council, in a report last year, estimated the new petrochemical complex could attract up to $16 billion in private investment and create thousands of construction jobs.