LAWRENCE MESSINA
Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia lost out in
the battle to attract Shell's multibillion-dollar chemical plant because
of the costs involved with relocating a casino that occupies the site,
sources told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Shell announced
plans Thursday to build the so-called "cracker" plant in Monaca, Pa.,
about 12 miles from the West Virginia border. Two individuals with
direct knowledge of the negotiations with Shell, but who were
unauthorized to speak publicly about them, said the company's
preferred West Virginia location encroached on Mountaineer Casino,
Racetrack and Resort.
Houston-based Shell, the U.S. subsidiary of
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, is planning a facility that can convert or crack a
byproduct of nearby Marcellus shale natural gas drilling into a widely
used chemical compound
The Mountaineer complex sits along the Ohio
River in nearby Hancock County and includes a large, flat oval
racetrack. Besides the costs of building a new facility, Mountaineer
would face a countywide vote on whether to permit its video slot
machines and table games if it were required to relocate outside of
Hancock County. A new location may have also pushed Mountaineer into
competition with one of the state's three other racetrack casinos in
Kanawha, Jefferson and nearby Ohio counties.
Officials from
Mountaineer and Shell did not immediately comment when contacted
Thursday. West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Commerce Secretary
Keith Burdette both declined to comment on any specific locations that
Shell had considered in West Virginia.
AP had previously reported
that Shell was looking at parcels near Mountaineer. Tomblin did say
Thursday that a company owned Shell's preferred West Virginia site,
while Burdette said securing that site for Shell would have required
relocating its current occupant.
"At the end of the day, it was all about the site," Burdette told The Associated Press.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WVSTATE. All Rights Reserved.
