Delaware Currents Presents
LNG: Wyalusing, PA to Gibbstown, NJ
Latest News:
Gibbstown LNG project shows a flicker of life
After repeated setbacks, a controversial proposal to transport liquified natural gas from a plant in Pennsylvania to a port on the Delaware River in New Jersey has shown flickers of life. Sort of. Consistent with the history of the proposal, which has been as straight as a corkscrew, it’s not entirely clear what the future…
Plan to transport LNG by rail to Delaware River port hits yet another snag
Federal regulators have pulled on yet another loose string in what has been the slow unraveling of a plan to export liquified natural gas from a New Jersey port on the Delaware River. The latest setback to the proposal by New Fortress Energy came from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which last week…
Critics of Gibbstown LNG plan warn of global-warming impact
Editor’s note: This story is shared courtesy of New Jersey Monitor. A controversial proposal to move liquefied natural gas by truck and train from northeastern Pennsylvania to South Jersey for overseas export would produce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 2 million cars every year over 25 years, according to a new environmental impact study commissioned by the plan’s…
Gibbstown LNG project hit with yet another setback
A federal agency on Monday denied a critical permit at the heart of a controversial proposal to bring liquified natural gas via rail from Wyalusing, Pa., to a Delaware River port in Gibbstown, N.J. The agency, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, turned down the request to renew a special permit, according to a…
Future of Gibbstown-LNG project remains far from certain
A pending federal ruling about LNG by rail is one of numerous puzzle pieces still needed for the project.
A proposal to bring liquified natural gas via rail to a Delaware River port in Gibbstown, N.J., awaits a critical ruling by federal regulators – one of many significant hurdles that could ultimately mean the end of the line for a controversial project that has shown no appreciable momentum for years. The question before the…
Wyalusing-Gibbstown LNG project suffers another setback
A contentious on-again, off-again plan to process liquified natural gas in Pennsylvania and transport it to a port on the Delaware River in New Jersey has suffered another setback. A company behind the project, Bradford County Real Estate Partners, reached a settlement on March 18 with environmental advocacy groups that challenged an air quality permit…
New Fortress doubles down on LNG-by-rail permit
A New Fortress Energy affiliate is doubling down on the importance of transporting liquefied natural gas by rail as part of its plan to export LNG from a plant in Wyalusing, Pa., to a New Jersey port on the Delaware River. Delaware Currents sought the permit renewal in a public records request. New information about…
Last-minute special permit renewal sought for Gibbstown project
The company behind a controversial plan to export liquified natural gas from Pennsylvania to a New Jersey port on the Delaware River filed a last-minute application on Tuesday to renew a special permit to transport LNG by rail. Energy Transport Solutions, a subsidiary of global energy giant New Fortress Energy, filed the renewal with the…
Is this the beginning of the end for Gibbstown LNG project?
Breaking news: Since the time of publication of this story, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration confirmed that it has, in fact, received a renewal application for the special permit to allow the transportation of LNG by rail for the Wyalusing-to-Gibbstown project. The application was received on Tuesday, the day the permit was set…
New obstacles loom large for Wyalusing-Gibbstown LNG project
A contentious plan to export liquified natural gas from a Delaware River port faces new political, economic and environmental headwinds that raise questions about its future. A new White House administration, a global market that was once white-hot that has considerably cooled in the past two years and pandemic-related workforce disruptions cast long shadows over…
Gibbstown LNG Dock 1 got Coast Guard’s “Letter of Recommendation”
Letter dated Dec. 18, 2019
By Chris Mele Hazardous materials regularly roll through Northeastern Pennsylvania communities by rail and road and it’s left to local first responders to be ready for when things go wrong. Haz-mat incidents vary in degrees of danger, records show. Commonly, crews are called to overturned trucks leaking diesel fuel. Infrequently, there are more serious incidents,…
The LNG Project Explained
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What is the project?
The energy giant New Fortress Energy and its subsidiaries want to transform natural gas at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa., northwest of Scranton, into super-cooled liquid natural gas and transport it by rail or highway to a port in Gibbstown, N.J., about 180 miles away. From the port, it would be shipped overseas.
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Where will the gas come from?
It is expected to come to the Wyalusing site via a pipeline from areas of Pennsylvania where fracking is taking place to extract the gas.
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What routes would LNG take by rail or highway?
The company has not publicly disclosed those details though environmental activists have identified two rail and two highway routes that could take trains and trucks through some combination of 18 counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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Have concerns been raised about the project?
Yes, many. Opponents and environmental activists have cited, among other things, public safety concerns about so-called "bomb trains" rolling through populated areas, including places like Philadelphia, the promotion of fracking, the effects of dredging needed to complete a deep-water port in the Delaware River, and a lack of transparency.
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What does the company say about the safety concerns?
Its consultants have said that LNG has long been safely transported on highways by tankers and that rail transportation is safe: It estimated one fatality once every 200 years for high-speed train transport and one fatality once every 350 years for low-speed transport.
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What is the status of the project?
It has cleared many numerous regulatory and permitting hurdles, including the approval of the Delaware River Basin Commission, but a good number remain. The company has indicated in regulatory filings that production of LNG at the Wyalusing plant is expected to start in the first quarter of 2022.