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DEP extends public comment time on Falcon pipeline permits

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Environmental regulators are extending the public comment period for two permit applications related to the portion of a proposed ethane supply pipeline whose path includes part of Washington County.

Late last week, the Department of Environmental Protection said it would extend the comment period for water obstruction and encroachment permit applications concerning Shell Pipeline Co’s roughly 98-mile Falcon Ethane Pipeline.

Without the extension, the 30-day period for those permits would have ended on Tuesday. The state agency also said Friday it was opening a public comment period on earth disturbance applications related to the project. Both periods will now end April 17.

State Impact reported late last month that the group Air Quality Collaborative last month called for additional time to review permits related to the project. That request followed the DEP’s decision earlier in January to halt work temporarily on Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline over alleged spills of drilling fluid and other permit violations.

DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said the agency had received “a significant number of requests for a comment period extension,” and thought “it to be in the best interest of community participation to provide additional time for the public to provide thoughtful and constructive input” about the proposal.

Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said the company welcomes public interest in the project and “DEP’s thorough review of our permit applications.”

“This process will highlight Shell Pipeline’s strong commitment to protecting the environment and communities where we operate, which is our top priority,” he added in an email.

Shell’s plans call for a 45.5 miles of pipeline in Pennsylvania, including in parts of Allegheny and Beaver counties as well as Washington.

One stretch of the project would connect MarkWest’s Houston processing facility in Chartiers Township to Shell’s ethane cracker in Potter Township, Beaver County.

Another segment would cross the Northern West Virginia Panhandle to connect facilities in the Ohio towns of Cadiz and Scio with the cracker plant.

DEP said it will also hold hearings in each of the three counties. The agency will release further details once those plans are finalized.

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