CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The company working on plans to possibly build an ethane cracker facility in Wood County is applying to the state for environmental permits to move forward in the planning process.
The Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise LLC (ASCENT), a subsidiary of Odebrecht, has submitted two environmental permitting documents to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, said Denise Cruz, company spokeswoman.
These are an air quality permit and an application to evaluate the 363-acre property in Wood County under the state’s Voluntary Remediation Program.
”Permitting is just another administrative step in the continuing feasibility study considering the construction of a petrochemical manufacturing facility in Wood County, W.Va.,” Cruz said. ”It is one step in a long process. We are continuing to move forward.”
Last fall, the Brazilian-based Odebrecht announced plans for the development in Wood County of an ethane cracker, three polyethylene plants and associated infrastructure for water treatment and energy co-generation.
A cracker plant converts ethane, a byproduct from Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale natural gas, into the widely used ethylene, a key component for the plastics industry…