Eyes on Shell
WATCHDOG
TEAM
We want you to be a part of the Eyes on Shell Watchdog Team - our next virtual meeting is on December 7 at 7:30 pm Register here
Right now, residents are coming together to monitor the impacts of Shell’s plastic plant on our air, water, light and noise levels.
You are the eyes and ears of your community – what you see, hear, smell and feel could alert us to a health or safety problem. Contact us at eyesonshell@gmail.com or (724) 923-3244 to share experiences of pollution from the Shell plant.
We encourage residents like you to keep a health journal and take photos and videos of anything you notice. We also offer a variety of free monitors. Reach out to info@marcellusawareness.org for more information.
The Eyes on Shell Watchdog Team was founded after the Preparing for Petrochemicals meeting that BCMAC held in December 2021. Watch the discussion to the left to learn more about this community-driven group.
Report an Emergency in Beaver County by calling
911 and (724) 775-1700
Emergency Resources to Protect Our Community
PLEASE NOTE: This website is not offering medical guidance and should not be interpreted as doing so. If you have health concerns, please contact your physician.
You are the eyes and ears of the community!
We want to hear from you: what you see, hear, smell and feel.
If you see something that concerns you, like a spill of fluids, a fire or flaring event, a strong chemical smell or other incident -- please use the following information to take action and let us know at (724) 923-3244 or eyesonshell@gmail.com
How to Record and Document an Incident
Take photos! A picture truly is worth a thousand words. Be sure to take photos of all activities, problems, and concerns. Be sure to include a date and time stamp. The more details you can include the better!
Keep a Journal: In order to help protect you and your community, it is important to keep a journal with records of your observations. Your journal could include the following:
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Date and time
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Weather conditions – wind direction, if you know it
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Annoying noise from traffic, heavy equipment, machinery
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Flaring events – call these into the above numbers and record them in your journal
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Anything new and unfamiliar
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Unexplained odors – particularly chemical smells, call those into the numbers in the sections included to the right and record in your journal
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Any trembles or shaking of your home or property
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Any changes in water quality: color, smell
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Any changes in water quantity
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Any changes in the health of outdoor plants, landscaping, or pets
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Make a note of details of any inconveniences or concerns
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Keep records of everyone you speak to about oil and gas activities
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Keep records of everyone you speak to about problems you’ve reported and any follow-up they provide – be sure to include dates and times for each
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Get business cards for anyone who visits you – keep them in your journal
Thanks to the Environmental Integrity Project for this information.
Click Here to see the Pennsylvania Citizens Toolkit
Clean Air Council’s Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a thorough evaluation by experts in public health, engineering, and law of the consequences of building Shell’s cracker. It was released in 2014 to spur discussion about educating the community and maximizing protections from the plant’s potentially serious health, economic, quality-of-life, and environmental impacts. Beaver County’s existing nonattainment status for ground-level ozone meant that the already unsafe amount of ozone in the air would increase with the cracker. To address public concern about this and other increased pollution, Council experts also recommended improvements Shell could make, many of which remain unaddressed today.
A Research Study
The Asthma and Environmental Lung Health Institute Research Registry
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes Researchers want to better understand asthma by enrolling people with asthma into the Asthma and Environmental Lung Health Institute Research Registry. A research registry is a list of individuals who agree to allow researchers to review and study their medical records and allow researchers to contact them about future research study opportunities.
Who can enroll? You may be a good fit for the research registry if you are diagnosed with asthma and do not have a greater than 20 pack year cigarette smoking history (not more than 1 pack per day for 20 years, or 2 packs per day for 10 years).
Joining the registry involves one visit that lasts about 1.5 hours. Study procedures include a blood draw, breathing tests, questions about your medical history, and agreeing to have your medical record information added to the research registry so that researchers may learn more about asthma. Once you are enrolled in the study, you may be contacted for future research studies for which you may qualify.
If you are interested in joining, go to our website: https://asthmainstitute.pitt.edu/ and fill out the contact form at the bottom of the homepage and one of our researchers will reach out to you!
Resources
LOCAL EMERGENCY RESOURCES
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Beaver County Emergency Notification
Click here to register for Beaver County Alerts
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Beaver County Emergency Management
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Phone: (724) 775-1700
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Address
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Beaver County Emergency Services
351 14th Street
Ambridge, PA 15003
Potter Township Resources
This is the township that the Shell Plant is in; please use the contact information below to report any noise, light, or noise pollution.
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Zoning & Code Enforcement Officer for Potter Twp
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724-495-6220
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206 Mowry Road,
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Monaca, PA 15061
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Potter Twp Board of Supervisors
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Rebecca Matsco, Chairwoman
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724-774-2884
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Earl Shamp, Vice Chairman
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724-495-3749
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Al Cwynar, Supervisor
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724-495-3189
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PENNSYLVANIA RESOURCES
PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Residents can report complaints to the PA DEP on air quality, water, or noise issues. Any report filed must include your name, address, and phone number; the date and time of your call; and the details of what you observed. It should include a request for an inspector to be dispatched to the scene and for a copy of the inspection report to be sent to you.
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Emergencies
Spills and other emergencies in the Southwest Region should be reported immediately to DEP by telephone at 412-442-4000 (24 Hours) or by calling 1-800-541-2050.
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PA Fish & Boat Commission
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1-855-FISH-KILL
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Southwest Service Representative
Tara Pirro (412) 442-4000
400 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4745
Statewide Toll-Free Number 866-255-5158
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Southwest Regional Office Assistant Regional Director
Kevin Halloran, Assistant Regional Director, PA DEP
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Submit an environmental complaint form or observation of possible non-compliance to DEP with this link!
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FEDERAL RESOURCES
National Response Center (NRC) is part of the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and is staffed by the US Coast Guard.
Calls to the NRC start an important notification process including federal, state, and county officials: To report an incident by phone, contact the National Response Center at 800-424-8802.
Be sure to provide your name, address, phone number, date and time of your call, and details of what you observed.
Details on the NRC and what to report can be found here.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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EPA SWPA Kevin Clark, EPA On-Scene Coordinator
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304-234-0251
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Contact our local EPA On-Scene Coordinator with questions or to file a complaint with the Southwest PA EPA.
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To report an incident by phone, contact the National Response Center at 800-424-8802.
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To report an incident online, see Report Environmental Violations
Be sure to provide your name, address, phone number, date and time of your call, and details of what
you observed.
HEALTH RESOURCES
If you are experiencing a health emergency, please dial 911 for assistance. If you have personal health concerns please call your primary care physician for care.
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Pennsylvania Department of Health
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Information on environmental health concerns can be found on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.
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*Please note the DOH hours are: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Report a concern by contacting the PA DOH in the following ways:
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By Mail:
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Pennsylvania Department of Health
Division of Environmental Health Epidemiology
Bureau of Epidemiology
Room 933, Health and Welfare Building
625 Forster Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120-0701
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By Phone:
717-787-3350
Or Fax: 717-346-3286
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By Email:
Other Health Resources:
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Environmental Health Project
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Website includes a brochure on how to talk to your doctor
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One of the most important tools for recording the environment around you as it relates to your health is maintaining a health diary - use this link as a resource for starting a day-to-day health log that is critical for translating your experience into change.
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Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
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Phone: 202-667-4260
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Contact a network of physicians that have been dedicated to a healthy environment for over 50 years and access their factsheets, newsletters and reports on the petrochemical industry and other areas of environmental concern here.
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ProtectPT
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ProtectPT has an excellent web page dedicated to information on Complaint and Compliance
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Website
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Unsure of how to make your voice heard or direct your observations of possible environmental non-compliance of industry to the proper regulatory agency? Use this webpage with tips and contacts to get started - community networks of residents sharing their experiences are vital for holding non-compliant actors accountable. Ready to submit your observations? ProtectPT hosts a portal for submitting your observations here.
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Community Pollution Monitoring Networks
AIR
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Community Air Monitoring
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Would you like to be part of our air monitoring network around the Shell plant?
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Please contact: Mark Dixon, 415-672-5537, markedixon@gmail.com
Find out how you can host a monitor on your home or business!
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Airviz
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Airviz Inc. is a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff company with a deep relationship with the Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab. We help to build Smart (Air Quality) Cities through empowered government, citizens, and scientists by providing affordable environmental sensing instruments and integrated powerful visualization platforms for sense-making and sharing of gathered scientific data — to promote evidence-based decision-making, public discourse, and action. Local real-time VOC data from Airviz combo VOC+Pm monitors is available at https://voc.createlab.org/
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Purple Air Monitors
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PurpleAir’s website maintains a live map of air monitoring sites with accurate data on the air quality in areas where monitors are present. See a spot where data is missing? Help us “fill gaps” and offer a fuller picture of our air quality by requesting to host an air monitor.
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Louisiana Bucket Brigade/Bucket air monitoring
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The Louisiana Bucket brigade was founded as a hands-on science resource for residents of communities threatened with petrochemical-related air pollution. These EPA-approved buckets capture the air to be analyzed at an accredited lab and give visibility to the invisible hazardous particles and chemicals.
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SUMMA Canisters
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Website
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Sampling into stainless steel canisters was first conducted to measure freons in the atmosphere to help scientists determine which compounds were responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer. In 1982, the EPA Compendium of Methods for the Determination of VOCs in Ambient Air first appeared which specified the use of SUMMA® passivated canisters for collecting air samples to measure levels of 40 solvents and aromatics.
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SmellPGH
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SmellPGH is available as an app on your mobile device to record and share the odor nuisances and pollution that our noses pick up.
WATER
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Nurdle Patrol
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A nurdle is a plastic pellet that serves as raw material in the manufacturing of plastic products. Nurdles are washing up on our beaches, riverbanks, and lake shorelines by the millions. Help us find and map the source by conducting your own nurdle survey. Just let us know how many pellets you found and where.
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Mountain Watershed Association
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The Mountain Watershed Association, home of the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper, is a small, community-based, non-profit organization concerned with the protection, preservation, and restoration of the Indian Creek and greater Youghiogheny River watersheds. They will be leading nurdle patrols along the Ohio River when the plant is up and running.
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Three Rivers Water Keeper
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Three Rivers Waterkeeper (3RWK) was founded in 2009 and aims to improve and protect the water quality of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. These waterways are critical to the health, vitality, and economic prosperity of our region and communities. 3RWK is both a scientific and legal advocate for the community, working to ensure our three rivers are protected and safe to drink, fish, swim, and enjoy.
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West Virginia University: Water Research Institute
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Their mission is to bring together the best available expertise to explore and implement solutions that improve and protect the quality of West Virginia's water resources and expand the understanding of threats and opportunities through education and outreach related to West Virginia's water resources.
NOISE
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ProtectPT Portal
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Would you like to host a noise monitor? Register here.
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Report air & noise pollution, heavy-truck traffic, and other health concerns and/or disturbances to peace with the ProtectPT portal — for PA residents of all counties — a tool that will submit your observation (along with uploading your photo evidence) to the proper regulatory authority with the confidence that it will be individually responded to by submitting all required information.
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Organizations
You can contact us with any questions or concerns by clicking here! Please feel free to reach out to any of our partner organizations for more information!
Breathe Project
Breathe Project is a clearinghouse for information on air quality in Pittsburgh, southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond. We use the best available science and technology to better understand the quality of the air we breathe and provide opportunities for citizens to engage and take action.
Communities First Sewickley Valley
Communities 1st Sewickley Valley is a partner-grassroots group that brings residents together to address concerns around the growing petrochemical infrastructure of Sewickley Valley and neighboring communities.
Clean Air Council
Founded before the EPA, before Earth Day, and before the modern Clean Air Act, Clean Air Council has been fighting for everyone's right to breathe clean air since 1967. To protect and defend everyone’s right to a healthy environment,The Council works through a broad array of related sustainability and public health initiatives, using public education, community action, government oversight, and enforcement of environmental laws.
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
NoPetroPA
Learn more about stopping the rollout of the fracking-based petrochemical industry in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. They believe that the Shell Ethane Cracker, Falcon pipeline, and related petro industries have no business doing business at the expense of our health.
Protect PT
Protect PT (Penn-Trafford) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring residents’ safety, security, and quality of life by engaging in education and advocacy to protect the economic, environmental, and legal rights of the people in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. ProtectPT Observation Portal
Helpful Facebook Groups
Shell Cracker Impact
Learn about how the new ethane cracker plant in Beaver County will impact you & your community.
Emergency Fire Incidents Of Beaver County
Emergency FIre Incidents of Beaver County is a Facebook Group that is one resource for sharing observations or getting news on fire and hazmat incidents.