{"id":728752,"date":"2026-04-15T03:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/728752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T03:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:05:29","slug":"pgws-liquified-natural-gas-plant-in-port-richmond-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/728752\/","title":{"rendered":"PGW’s liquified natural gas plant in Port Richmond in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk<\/a>, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.\n<\/p>\n

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

In a surprise move Tuesday morning, the Philadelphia Gas Commission tabled a vote on Philadelphia Gas Works\u2019 proposal to replace its natural gas liquefier in Port Richmond, which would increase its capacity to liquefy and store natural gas.\n<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s staff had reviewed the proposal as part of the utility\u2019s 2027 capital budget and recommended the five commissioners reject the $182 million project. The Public Advocate agreed<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cPGW\u2019s proposal, which is capable of producing 1.1 [billion cubic feet] more [liquefied natural gas] annually than its existing plant is oversized and could overburden PGW customers with unnecessary debt service expense,\u201d Rob Ballenger, a Community Legal Services attorney who serves as the Public Advocate in budget proceedings, told the commissioners.\n<\/p>\n

Ballenger said the utility does not need more capacity to liquefy natural gas to serve its customers. He said he agreed with the commission staff that PGW\u2019s plant and project designs are incomplete.\n<\/p>\n

PGW has two liquefiers: the Richmond Plant in Port Richmond and the Passyunk Energy Center in South Philadelphia stores LNG. The utility uses the facilities to liquefy and store gas that it purchases during the offseason when it is cheaper for use during cold winters when demand is high.\n<\/p>\n

Currently, the Richmond Plant has a capacity to produce 2.2 billion cubic feet and the newly proposed plant would be capable of producing 3.2 billion cubic feet. PGW is also negotiating a public-private partnership to fund the new plant, which, if successful, would negate the need for the $182 million in capital funds.\n<\/p>\n

Andre Desant, an attorney for PGW, urged the commissioners to<\/a> approve the utility\u2019s entire proposed capital budget request of about $390.6 million<\/a> and reject the staff\u2019s recommendation not to approve the $182 million for the liquefied natural gas, or LNG, plant<\/a>. Desant told commissioners that approval for the plant was urgent, as the utility needed to have the liquefier operating by 2030 for safety and affordability.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout it, we not only risk exposing customers during the coldest winters to a possible harm, but we also have a situation where we use the LNG liquefier to avert problems with system failure,\u201d Desant said.\n<\/p>\n

He said the project proposal is the right size to avoid trucking needed LNG through the neighborhood.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t produce excess capacity,\u201d Desant said. \u201cIt produces enough capacity. If you truck in the LNG, you\u2019re basically dealing with the issue on an ad hoc basis, and we\u2019re suggesting that you deal with it \u2026 as a plan.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

PGW and the Public Advocate disagreed over how much money, if any, the LNG plants saved customers.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":728753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,93840,1311,94515,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,49740],"class_list":["post-728752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pgw","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-gas-works","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-whyy-news-climate-desk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116406513124027612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}