Tree clearing is under way at the site of a proposed ethane cracker plant in eastern Ohio, even though a final investment decision is still pending by PTT Global Chemical America and its partner, Daelim.
The companies last week announced they have hired a local firm to clear 140 acres in Belmont County of trees by March 31, Kallanish Energy reports.
The local company will remove all trees three inches in diameter and larger at the site at Shadyside, on the Ohio River where a now-razed coal-burning power plant used to stand.
After March 31, trees cannot be cleared under federal and state rules because of the threat to the endangered Indiana bat that might be mating and raising young under tree bark.
The companies, in the three-sentence announcement, said no final investment decision has been made.
The $6 billion plant, if built, would annually produce 1.5 million metric tonnes of ethylene and other materials from ethane produced by shale drilling.
The plant would use six ethane cracking furnaces and manufacture ethylene, high-quality polyethylene and linear low-density polyethylene.
PTT Global Chemical America is a subsidiary of PTT Global Chemical, Thailand’s largest integrated petrochemical company.
Royal Dutch Shell is building a similar cracker in Beaver County, northwest of Pittsburgh, in western Pennsylvania.
