CRCQL, other community groups say ‘NO’ to LNG terminal in Delco
At the Pennsylvania LNG task force hearing at Widener University in August 2023, both Mayfield and Chester Mayor, Stefan Roots, spoke out against a facility being sited in Chester. “As a Chester elected official, I take public health and public safety very seriously,” Mayor Roots said. “The health and safety of Chester residents have been compromised by local industry for too long,” he continued. “Our residents are sick. We exceed in every measurable health disparity: asthma, birth defects, COPD, infant mortality, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and a shorter life expectancy.”
Typically LNG facilities are located on the Gulf or coastline on large tracts of land, usually with hundreds of acres of buffer from populations. This would be the largest LNG export facility on the east coast and located on a highly trafficked river. “Impacts that would result from the development of the proposed Penn America LNG Export facility include toxic air and water pollution and the inevitable degradation of the region’s environment,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
“The threat to public safety from the transport, storage, processing, transloading, and shipping of this highly dangerous gas cannot be safely done in our densely populated southeastern Pennsylvania region. There is absolutely no place to locate such a massive project that won’t pose unacceptable risks to the people and the environment here. That’s why the federal government advises these get placed in remote locations, far from vulnerable areas,” Carluccio said.
Mayfield referenced the massive explosion at an LNG export facility in Freeport, Texas in 2022 that had devastating impacts on local residents. “We are in contact with communities in Louisiana and Texas that are living next to these types of facilities. They are all the same – come in with promises of jobs and economic growth – residents we talk to say it has only created more problems and led to decreased property values and more pollution.”
As far as the promised job creation and energy independence that Penn America and Senator McCormick praise, Mayfield states, “They are all false promises. These jobs require years of experience in LNG facilities which our local residents do not have. All of this gas is being exported overseas for private profit at the expense of Pennsylvanians’ lives.”
Learn more about this project and how to get involved in stopping it at NoLNGDelco.c
Reprinted CRCQL Press Release