Daniel Rossi-Keene
speaker
68 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Mar 2026
last heard 23 Mar
Daniel Rossi-Keene’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Mar 2026 with 2.
Appearances
And Shell announces it's going to build a plant that turns that gas into the plastic you'd find in water bottles and toys and car parts right in Beaver County.
There will be new jobs and tax revenue and prosperity, just like the old days.
But instead of steel, it's plastic.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted a $1.65 billion tax break, the largest in its history.
Beaver County resident Jolene Atkins says her neighbors were thrilled.
What I've learned about this area because of the steel boom and then the steel decline is
Years of construction brought in thousands of new temporary jobs.
The plant is a giant lattice of pipes with a line of stacks billowing white plumes on one side.
It's a bit sci-fi, but since it opened in 2022.
It doesn't, I don't know, it just kind of doesn't seem like the employment cash cow that it was supposed to be.
The American Chemistry Council, a trade group, estimated that plants like this one in Beaver County generate more than 17,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Shell said in a statement that it employs 500 people full-time and 400 contractors.
The plant has faced millions of dollars in penalties for environmental violations.
Several local news outlets say Shell is trying to sell the plant, although it wouldn't confirm that.
Meanwhile, incomes for Beaver County residents are down and reliance on food assistance is up.
Nick Messinger, senior economist at the think tank the Ohio River Valley Institute, says Shell's plant has been a bust for a few reasons.
Other companies built new plants like Shell's, so there's a glut of production capacity.
Meanwhile, more of us opted for reusable water bottles instead of the single-use ones made from the plant's plastic.
He also says this idea of a community putting all its proverbial eggs in one basket might have worked in the age of the steel plants, but not a great bet today.
And that is precisely the insight that's guiding Daniel Rossi Keene of the local development nonprofit Riverwise.
Showing 41–60 of 68 · page 3 of 4
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