Shell has no plans to fully restart production during the COVID-19 crisis, but an additional 200 employees will return gradually over the next week to join the roughly 300 workers already tasked with repairing and maintaining the facility. More could be called back in the coming weeks.

POTTER TWP. — At least 500 Shell Chemicals workers will be back at Beaver County’s ethane cracker plant by next week, company representatives said Wednesday.

Shell has no plans to fully restart production during the COVID-19 crisis, but spokesman Michael Marr said an additional 200 employees will return gradually over the next week to join the roughly 300 workers already tasked with repairing and maintaining the petrochemical complex. More could return in the coming weeks.

"We anticipate reintroducing more workers to the site at a measured pace so we can integrate limited personnel onsite while maintaining social distancing guidelines," Marr said. "Next week, we anticipate having approximately 500 workers onsite, which, for now, is the number we believe we need to do the critical repair, preserve and maintain work. We will be reviewing our staffing numbers week by week."

On March 18, Shell temporarily suspended construction activities at Potter Township’s ethane cracker plant to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 amid public pressure. Union officials said on Wednesday that two employees have since tested positive for COVID-19 and were told to self-isolate.

The plant’s closure came two days ahead of Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to stop all non-life-sustaining businesses, including most construction activities. Shell’s construction company later applied for a waiver to resume some work during the shutdown, asking the state to allow up to 800 workers back for limited construction activities.

Staff at Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, which reviews waiver requests, said Shell applied for an exemption to continue as a cogeneration power plant. Utility operations are considered essential under Wolf’s order, and the site’s pending gas-powered electricity plant makes it an eligible utility.

Shell will operate in compliance with social distancing and other mitigation measures established by federal and state officials, Marr said, noting the majority of the company’s 8,500 workers will remain furloughed for the duration of the shutdown.

Employees will park within the site itself to avoid the use of busing, eliminating a key challenge to social distancing guidelines. Other protocols in place include temperature screenings and lunchroom spacing, Marr said.

A number of Shell Chemicals workers, local residents and elected officials demanded the company temporarily cease cracker plant construction in mid-March, with employees reporting a variety of health hazards.

Beaver County Commissioners called for the plant’s closure early on. At last week’s commissioners meeting, Chairman Dan Camp said he and his colleagues received multiple calls from concerned Shell workers who didn’t understand why they were being called back following the shutdown.

"A lot of the employees don’t know what to do," he said. "They don’t know if they should be going back to work or not, or if the governor gave (Shell) a waiver."

Marr said Shell management plans to update local and state leaders at "appropriate intervals" moving forward.

Commissioners on Wednesday varied in their response to the news. Camp called it a "loophole," and said protecting Beaver County’s health care system should be a top priority.

"We are starting to see the COVID-19 peak here in Beaver County, and we have to make sure our health care system can accommodate what will happen," he said. "Even if they’re able to follow CDC guidelines on site, what they take back to their families and communities may not be what’s best for their health."

Commissioner Jack Manning disagreed with Camp, arguing a few hundred additional workers are unlikely to overwhelm the region’s hospitals. He feels comfortable with the protocols Shell has put in place to protect Beaver County from further COVID-19 exposure, and said those jobs are precious at a time when Pennsylvania is seeing unprecedented levels of unemployment.

"Five hundred people coming back to the area could be what keeps a few small businesses afloat," he said. "Most of our small businesses could barely go two weeks, let alone two or three months, with a fraction of what they need as income."

Doctors say major construction projects like the cracker plant make nearby communities more susceptible to the virus due to a large number of transient workers, but Manning said he’s been assured many of the workers returning are permanent residents.

"They’ve told us in the past that these folks returning are local, and they are not bringing a ton of people across state lines," Manning said. "There might be some Ohio or West Virginia people, but for the most part it’s regional people from the union halls who have relocated here permanently."

Commissioner Tony Amadio said he’s concerned about how the move could affect public health and safety, but it’s ultimately up to the state — not commissioners — to make those decisions.

"Workers who don’t want to return are not penalized for it," he said. "It’s voluntary."