This editorial first appeared in the Scranton Times on April 23, 2023--

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

Related Articles - LNG:

-- Marcellus Drilling News: New Fortress Energy Reapplying For Wyalusing LNG Natural Gas Plant Permits In Bradford County

-- U.S. DOT Misses Deadline To Suspend Rule Allowing Shipping LNG Natural Gas By Rail, Including A Proposal In PA

-- A Voluntary Settlement Of An EHB Appeal By All Parties Requires Developers Of A Bradford County Liquified Natural Gas Facility To Apply For New Air Quality Permit

-- Environmental Groups Appeal Air Permit Extension For Proposed Liquefied Natural Gas Plant In Bradford County That Would Emit 1 Million Tons Of Greenhouse Gases A Year

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 15 to 21; 10 Abandoned Well NOVs; New Crude Oil Leak; Defective Casing/Cementing  [PaEN]

-- 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] 

PA Oil & Gas Compliance Reports

-- Feature: 60 Years Of Fracking, 20 Years Of Shale Gas: Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Industrial Infrastructure Is Hiding In Plain Sight [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- 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 Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’  [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]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- House Environmental Committee Sets April 24 Hearing On Plugging Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; New Bill Restores Authority To Increase Conventional Well Bonding  [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Gov. Shapiro Provides Fresh Support To Key Changes Recommended In 2020 Grand Jury Report To Tighten Regulation Of The Natural Gas Drilling Industry To Better Protect Public Health, Environment   [PaEN]

-- New State Health Plan Identifies Health Issues Related To Natural Resource Extraction, Climate Change In Top 5 Threats To Health Outcomes; No Update On University Of Pittsburgh Oil & Gas Health Impacts Study  [PaEN]

-- Independent Regulatory Review Commission Approves Final Emergency Regs Setting VOC/Methane Emission Limits On Conventional Oil/Gas Operations  [PaEN]

-- Concerned Residents, Advocates Call On DEP For The Opportunity To Comment On Proposed Roulette Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Potter County  [PaEN]

-- DEP/Equitrans Settlement: DEP, Preempted By Federal Law, Withdraws Order, Closes NOVs Against Equitrans For Cambria County Natural Gas Storage Leak Releasing 1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas  [PaEN]

-- PA Supreme Court Upholds DEP’s Authority To Protect Public Resources, Playgrounds From Adverse Impacts Of Shale Gas Well Operations; Do Not Mistake This Win For Adequate Protection  [PaEN]

-- Citizen Complaint Results In Discovery Of An Unreported Crude Oil Spill Affecting Over 2,400 Feet Of Stream At A Cameron Energy Conventional Well Site In Forest County  [PaEN]

-- Scranton Times Editorial: Local Leaders, DOT Must Stop Plant In Wyalusing, Bradford County From Shipping LNG Natural Gas By Rail Or Truck Or Both To Philadelphia [PaEN]

-- Bay Journal: Shale Gas Drilling, Development Yields Both Fears, Funding For Pennsylvania Public Lands - By Ad Crable, Chesapeake Bay Journal  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission May 4 Hearing On Water Withdrawal Projects, Including 12 Related To Shale Natural Gas Drilling  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approved 39 Water Use Permits For Shale Gas Well Drilling Pads In Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wyoming Counties  [PaEN]

-- Intense, Bright White Light From The Shell Plastics Plant Turns Night Into Day For Many Neighbors Of The Beaver County Plant  [PaEN]

[Posted: April 23, 2023]

4/24/2023