After years of planning, lobbying and landing environmental approvals, Nova Chemicals says it has chosen Sarnia-Lambton for its new world-class polyethylene facility.

Officials are making the announcement today, taking journalist for a tour of the site and hosting area dignitaries this afternoon to talk about the plans.

Nova has been clearing the land behind the existing Corunna cracker off Rokeby Line at Highway 40 since September but it hadn’t made the final announcement to move ahead until today.This project is the third phase in the expansion of the Corunna cracker, which began with the Corunna Cracker Revamp and continues with the Corunna All Ethane Conversion. It will increase the unit’s current ethylene capacity by more than 50 per cent, up to the rate currently approved by regulators

The facility is the first major construction in the Chemical Valley since the 1970s and is expected to create thousands of jobs during construction.

Nova hopes to have the polyethylene facility open in late 2021.

Check the Dec. 14 edition of The Independent the full details.