The economic boom and thousands of new jobs that were supposed to follow in Shell’s wake have failed to materialize, according to research conducted by the Ohio River Valley Institute.

“There was a lot of happy talk about how, once you build petrochemical facilities in Appalachia, then all these other businesses will relocate next to them, which is not a thing that happens and hasn’t happened,” said Eric de Place, an energy policy consultant who has researched Shell Monaca for ORVI. De Place’s analysis found that Beaver County’s population has declined since 2012, and it has not seen growth in jobs, GDP or businesses.

“There’s simply no way to look at economic performance and say, ‘Beaver County got this petrochemical plant and it flourished.’ In fact, it is declining relative to the U.S. and Pennsylvania, and it has not outperformed the counties around it,” he said. “I think you look at the scoreboard and you say, this was a terrible investment of taxpayer money.”