Media Borough & Swarthmore Borough Pass “NO LNG” Resolution

On Thursday, February 19, Media Borough Council unanimously passed a No LNG in Delco resolution stating their opposition to the construction or siting of any LNG export terminal within Delaware County citing “that any proposal to build an LNG export terminal in the County is contrary to the health, safety, welfare, and public interest of its residents.” View the approved resolution here. 

The project proposed by Penn America, now Eddystone Energy LLC, intends to build a massive LNG export terminal in Eddystone or Chester that would process 100 million cubic feet of gas daily to be exported overseas. The project would have drastic impacts on community health, safety, and economic well-being. 

On Tuesday, March 2, Swarthmore Borough Council followed suit by unanimously passing their own version of the resolution, a copy of which can be found here. 

Media Borough Council President Mark Paikoff stated, “This is something that makes me proud as a member of the Media Borough Council to support and vote for.”

Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, an environmental justice group in the City of Chester, learned about this project in 2022 and has been actively organizing with other groups in the region against it, educating the community and meeting with local officials. Penn America has been trying to make inroads since 2016, and originally planned for a site in Chester riverfront, but is now considering Eddystone, next door, as the potential site due to community and political opposition in Chester. 

“This major project would impact residents with explosion risk, pollution and decreased quality of life,” said CRCQL Chairperson, Zulene Mayfield. “It would lower property values and discourage people from remaining or relocating to this region.

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.” 

An LNG export facility in Freeport, Texas exploded in 2022 and had devastating impacts on local residents. Just last month, a LNG pipeline exploded in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. “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,” stated Mayfield.

As far as the promised job creation and energy independence that Penn America and Senator McCormick praise, Mayfield explained, “They are all false promises. The only jobs come from construction and are temporary.  The LNG operating 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 at NoLNGDelco.com.