Before the Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pa., fired up its flares in November 2022, Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Health Data Science Jeanine Buchanich, PhD, and her team at the University of Pittsburgh were already listening.
In a study published in the Journal of Environmental Health (May 2025), Buchanich and co-authors shared findings from a survey of nearly 450 residents to understand their perceptions of health risks associated with the facility—one of the largest industrial developments in the region in decades. The study, funded by The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation, gathered baseline data prior to the plant becoming operational.
“We were interested in concerns related to air pollution, drinking water and their connection to local environmental practices—fishing, gardening or growing food,” says Buchanich, who also serves as vice dean for Pitt’s School of Public Health.
Residents expressed a mix of concern and cautious optimism. Many welcomed the promise of jobs and economic stability, while others worried about the facility’s size, emissions and long-term environmental footprint. More than 90% of participants believed their health could be harmed by air and water pollution, with air quality topping the list of concerns. People who grew their own fruit and vegetables were slightly more likely to report that their health had been harmed by air pollution.
At the same time, roughly a third reported satisfaction with local industries’ environmental practices, and about 40% felt those practices were protective of public health. “That tension is something we want to explore further,” Buchanich says.
The study was shaped with the help of community advisory partners, who tailored the survey and connected researchers with diverse stakeholder groups. That engagement, Buchanich says, has laid the groundwork for what comes next: following up with 60 participants through blood sampling, environmental wristbands and indoor dust analysis. The goal is to better understand actual exposure to substances like microplastics and PFAS—per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—a group of chemicals used in various products that persist in the environment and the human body for long periods of time.
River water samples collected between July 2022 and July 2023 showed elevated PFAS levels in some areas around the facility. Microplastics—particularly nurdles, the plastic pellets produced at petrochemical plants by “cracking” ethane—remain a focus of concern.
One of the most valuable outcomes of the project, Buchanich says, is the foundation it built for long-term research and collaboration. “Being there before the facility went live means we can track not just environmental change, but how people’s perceptions shift over time,” she says. “It’s about understanding the full life cycle of impact—on people, place and community.”
-Clare Collins