Two months after a derailed chemical-laden train imperiled thousands of residents along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, Northeast Pennsylvania again faces the risk of millions of gallons of even more dangerous material passing through the region every day.
New Fortress Energy, which in March 2022 suspended its plan to construct a plant in Wyalusing, Bradford County, to liquefy vast amounts of Marcellus Shale natural gas, has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to seek new permits.
The company’s overall plan is to liquefy the gas in Wyalusing and ship it by rail or truck, or both, to an LNG export terminal that would be constructed in Gibbstown, New Jersey, on the Delaware River.
It would result in around-the-clock production and shipment, with 800 trucks a day traveling mostly two-lane Routes 6 and 11.
Outbound from the plant, trucks would carry highly volatile LNG through dozens of densely populated towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Shipments by train would require 110 tanker cars per day, prompting opponents to label them “bomb trains.”
New Fortress allowed its permits to lapse as part of a legal settlement with three environmental groups.
Those activists filled in for sleepwalking government regulators. Those regulators, state and federal lawmakers, and regional public officials should not get caught sleeping again.
The plan is possible only because the Trump administration, eager to please fossil fuel interests, authorized LNG shipments by truck and rail despite the inherent danger.
Now, the Biden administration should rescind that authority. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman should lead that charge.
Gov. Josh Shapiro should ensure that the state Department of Environmental Protection and PennDOT put public health and safety at the top of the list if New Fortress seeks new permits.
And county, municipal and school officials should join their counterparts in 18 New Jersey local governments who have banded together to oppose the shipments.
The only sound way to export LNG is to transport gas by pipeline from wells to a port-side LNG conversion and export facility.
Local, state and federal officials should make sure that the plan to send hundreds of potential rolling bombs through NEPA each day is a nonstarter.
Visit DEP’s New Fortress Energy webpage to learn more about their actions related to this project.
(Photo: Wyalusing LNG Plant Site, Bradford County, Scranton Times.)
NewsClips:
-- Inquirer - Frank Kummer: Environmentalists Being Kept Out Of Philadelphia LNG Natural Gas Export Task Force Meeting
-- American Journal Of Transportation: PA LNG Task Force Takes Testimony On Expanding Natural Gas To PA Ports
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-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - April 22 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posts 75 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 22 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
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-- DEP Issued 754 Notices Of Violation For Defective Oil & Gas Well Casing, Cementing, The Fundamental Protection Needed To Prevent Gas Migration, Groundwater & Air Contamination, Explosions [PaEN]
-- DEP 2021 Oil & Gas Program Annual Report Shows Conventional Oil & Gas Operators Received A Record 610 Notices Of Violation For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them [PaEN]
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[Posted: April 23, 2023] PA Environment Digest
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