The Department of Environmental Protection will start holding public hearings tonight in counties affected by a Shell Pipeline Company application for a new pipeline in Western Pennsylvania. The Shell Falcon Ethane Pipeline would extend from Shell’s ethylene cracker plant in Beaver County, to Houston, Washington County. The pipeline would cross more than 300 streams and 100 wetlands across Beaver, Washington and Allegheny counties. A public hearing will be held at 6:30 tonight at the Central Valley High School Auditorium, on Baker Road Extension in Monaca. Another public hearing will be held Thursday at the Quaker Valley Middle School Auditorium on Harbaugh Street at Sewickley at 6:30.