CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Department of Environmental Protection announced Monday its Office of Environmental Remediation has accepted a Voluntary Remediation Program application from the company working toward developing an ethane cracker plant near Washington in Wood County.
Ascent, the Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise, is working with the DEP to identify “human health and ecological risks associated with current and potential future uses of the site, establish applicable remediation standards, and ensure that standards are maintained at the site. Upon completion of the remediation, a final report will be submitted to OER for review and approval,” the DEP said in a news release.
Ascent, a subsidiary of Odebrecht, announced plans for an ethane cracker plant last November. It could create hundreds of construction jobs. Once online it will be a key project in the state’s Marcellus shale natural gas industry.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said back in March he hoped to see some construction on the cracker plant by the first quarter of 2015.