Ohio Valley: Know the Threats of the Petrochemical Industry

Communities in Appalachia are at risk due to the planned development of the petrochemical and plastic production industry. The Mountaineer NGL storage project would develop underground caverns for the storage of natural gas liquids (“NGLs”) in the Salina formation. The liquids would be stored adjacent to and potentially beneath the Ohio River in Salem Township, Monroe County, Ohio.  The approximately 200-acre site is one mile north of Clarington, OH, whose groundwater wells are only a mile away from the proposed storage site. The three solution mining wells are proposed to be built on the narrow strip of land between Route 7 and the Ohio River, which formerly consisted of coal washing ponds that have since been filled. The project would have a working storage capacity of 3.25 million barrels for storing ethane, butane, and propane.  

Join us for a virtual informational meeting to learn more: 

Wednesday, August 12th 

6:30 - 8pm  

Link to access meeting (just type into browser at time of meeting):   

bit.ly/MountaineerMeeting  

Dial-in by phone: 

1 (646) 558-8656  

Meeting ID:  811 1237 9657  

Presented by Concerned Ohio River Residents and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.  

To create the first storage cavern, Mountaineer would need to withdraw 1,728,000 gallons of water from the Ohio River each day for use in dissolving salt in the Salina formation. An enormous reservoir is also included in the project plans to hold the brine that would be used to offset the pressure from the natural gas liquids removed from the caverns. There would also be three pipelines- at least one would be going underneath the Ohio River from the storage facility. Risks: explosions, sinkholes, fires, air pollution, and groundwater contamination. According to radioactivity experts, NGL storage facilities and associated infrastructure such as pipelines and storage equipment, concentrate radioactive material. Migration of radioactive toxins from this storage facility and other toxic elements into the air and water are of great concern.  

NGLs are highly flammable and costly to manage, store, and transport. A plume of NGLs poses a particular risk because the vapor is heavier than air, and hence, releases from the storage facility would hover in the Valley and could impact communities along the Ohio River. The Mont Belvieu NGL storage hub in Texas has been plagued with evacuations, industrial accidents, repeated chemical leaks and drinking water contamination issues and explosions, with one occurring as recently as July 29th, 2020. Hazardous conditions have been so severe that they have caused fatalities and forced the evacuation and even permanent relocation of local residents.   

NGL storage facilities and related petrochemical processing plants can have significant flaring episodes with excessive emissions that can cause negative health impacts. In many petrochemical plants and storage systems, flaring is used to burn off gases released by pressure relief valves when over-pressuring conditions occur in plant equipment. Researchers note that gas flaring is a prominent source” of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, smog-forming volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”), nitrogen oxides and soot. Appalachians must look carefully at the history of the Mont Belvieu storage complex before they support a similarly dangerous project, the Mountaineer planned for their region.