Marcellus Ethane Headed Out of the Area

We had big hopes for a cracker  that would use Marcellus  ethane and  other natural gas liquids to make plastic, and help restart our chemical industry.  That was especially true after Shell announced its plans to build a cracker in Pennsylvania.  Now Shell appears to have shelved its plans, and MarkWest is making plans to send up to 400,000 bbl per day  down to the Gulf Coast, where there's lots of existing petrochemical capacity, or northwest to Canaday.   I have heard  the ethane is used in Canada to mix with viscous tar sand oil to make it thin enough to flow through pipelines.