PECO Reliability Station under construction

PECO Reliability Station under construction

The station consists of two buildings at the intersection of Sproul Road and Cedar Grove Road that would receive natural gas from a new 11.5-mile gas pipeline, step down the pressure and convey it directly to end-users in the immediate area.
In addition to the township, two residents, Ted Uhlman and Julie Baker, who represent the Marple Safety Coalition, have been fighting the reliability station since 2019 when PECO first announced the project. 
Marple Township denied zoning variances for the facility in 2020 and PECO went to the PUC to negate the need for zoning permits.  In 2021 the PUC ruled in favor of PECO, allowing the facility to be constructed, and Marple appealed that decision to the Commonwealth Court.
They argued then that the PUC had failed to conduct a “constitutionally sound environmental review” under the Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA), Article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.  The PUC argued that it was not required to do so.
The Commonwealth Court agreed with the township and residents and remanded the decision back to the PUC to reconsider its approval of the project under the ERA. 
Last September the PUC again approved PECO’s permit, finding that PECO’s environmental impact study was adequate under the ERA, leading to the current appeal. 
In the new appeal, both the township and the residents, in separate briefs, argue that the PUC’s analysis of environmental factors was inadequate to meet the “constitutionally sound environmental review” standard and therefore was in error and should be reversed.
Two lower courts denied the appellants an injunction while the case is in the PA Supreme Court.