LNG project moving ahead in Eddystone, environmentalists say-Delco Times, June 25, 2026
By KATHLEEN E. CAREY | [email protected] | delcotimes.com
Environmental advocates say an LNG terminal project is moving forward along the Delaware River and that its impact will have quite a reach in Delaware County and beyond.
A webinar on Wednesday night hosted by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, CRCQL, shared information the groups gathered over the past year through Right-to-Know requests about such a project.
The webinar was entitled “The Secret Plan for a Massive Liquified Natural Gas Export Facility on the Delaware River.”
“The LNG processing facility that is proposed and its related infrastructure, export operations and enormous … ships jeopardize the entire region,” Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said. “This is not only an Eddystone problem. This is a problem that faces our entire region.”
A similar project had been planned for Chester but it seems as though that has moved upriver.
At it, she said Eddystone officials and Penn America LNG have met from March 2025 to as recently as May 5 about a potential LNG export facility in Eddystone.
She and Zulene Mayfield of CRCQL added that some state officials, including state Sen. John Kane, D-9, Birmingham, and state Rep. Dave Delloso, D-162, of Ridley Park, have also been involved in meetings with those interested in building such a facility.
During the webinar, Carluccio outlined some meetings Penn America Holdings has had over the last year, including building a road through 1001 Industrial Highway and a mention of a town hall meeting but no indication it was ever held.
Carluccio said that Eddystone Borough Council passed a resolution in April to authorize “the acquisition of property located at 1001 Industrial Highway, Eddystone Borough, through the exercise of eminent domain.”
Carluccio said the facility would produce 7.2 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas with a storage capacity of 320,000 cubic meters with an anticipated processing volume of 1.1 billion cubic feet of gas per day on an approximately 100-acre site.
She said if this volume is reached, they anticipate sending out a ship every four days.
Discussions on these projects began as early as 2021 with a target date of first cargoes occurring in the first quarter of 2028. However, Carluccio noted that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it had no record of a permit application for such a project, something that had been targeted for 2023-24.
The speakers also noted that this company acquired a non-disclosure agreement with state Department of Community and Economic Development in October 2025 and attempted one with Eddystone Borough Council that was not finalized.
Since then, Penn America LNG dissolved but Carluccio noted the creation of Eddystone Energy LLC, a Delaware domestic-limited liability company, in May 2025.
“We’re not absolutely sure whether Penn America or Eddystone Energy is in charge here,” Carluccio said. “One thing that we are sure of is that the common denominator is probably Franc James, who’s the CEO of Penn America and is involved with Eddystone Energy apparently.”
The webinar showed three sites along the Delaware River in Eddystone, including the Eddystone Generating Station, Penn Terminals and the property between them, 1001 Industrial Highway, that contains empty warehouses.
Of the warehouse property, Carluccio said, “They are interested, according to their real estate agent, to selling to Penn America LNG. It looks like negotiations are actively going on at this time.”
She said an LNG facility of this size would cover these three sites and extend into residential areas in Eddystone, based on conceptual drawings for the facility and other existing LNG sites.
“There’s no room in Eddystone for Penn America or Eddystone Energy LNG,” Carluccio said, noting that Eddystone is 1 square mile or 640 acres.
She also spoke of public safety concerns regarding such facilities that are usually 1,000 acres large.
“The potential blast zone, should there be a release of LNG to the atmosphere, is 3.8 square miles,” Carluccio said, adding that an area 2.1 miles beyond that would also be potentially flammable.
She added that federal guidelines outline that these such facilities should be built in remote locations, not densely populated ones like Delaware County.
“LNG release cannot be controlled,” Carluccio said. “Once it comes out, like escaping from a valve or a crack, you can’t get it back in.”
She said it then forms a vapor cloud “kills because anything in proximity is robbed of oxygen and people there would actually suffocate and also it burns the skin with cold freeze.”
Plus, she said when it burns, it burns so hot, it cannot be put out.
“The emergency management guidance for fire chiefs is to evacuate as quickly as you can and we’re talking about minutes and let it burn,” Carluccio said, adding that it explodes with a bomb force.
She also said various pollutants come along with having such a facility present from particulate matter to nitrogen oxide to volatile organic compounds.
Carluccio also noted that pipelines would be used to move the LNG to the facility and she looked at two possibilities for that.
One is the Enbridge Texas Eastern Philadelphia lateral, which hasn’t been built, and the other was the Williams Compressor Station 200 that already exists. Either one would go through various other towns in Delaware or Chester counties to get to Eddystone.
“Every community that these pipes are going to run through, you all have the same potential of being blown up as we do,” Mayfield said. “We have got to come together. We have to come together as communities endangered and help each other.”
Asked about jobs, she said as large as these facilities are, they employ about 270 people but often bring them from out of the area as they require specialized knowledge and a minimum of five years’ experience.
“They always claim that it would be millions and millions for the township,” Mayfield said. “Every place that there is an LNG located, it’s a p*** poor community. They are poor. These facilities do not pay taxes. They do not hire the local people.”
Carluccio said the webinar information was obtained through Right-to-Know requests with the Pennsylvania Governor’s office, the state Department of Community and Economic Development and Eddystone Borough. They said the advocates are also planning to attend the July 13 Eddystone Borough Council meeting.
The original article can be found here.
