{"id":792118,"date":"2026-05-12T23:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T23:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/792118\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T23:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T23:23:14","slug":"pgws-port-richmond-gas-plant-expansion-on-hold-until-further-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/792118\/","title":{"rendered":"PGW\u2019s Port Richmond gas plant expansion on hold until further study"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk<\/strong><\/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<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Gas Commission on Tuesday approved $213 million for Philadelphia Gas Works\u2019 fiscal year 2027 capital budget. In a unanimous vote that included four of the five commissioners present, a decision on the utility\u2019s controversial request to spend $182 million to replace its natural gas liquifier in Port Richmond was tabled for the second time.\n<\/p>\n

The proposal would increase PGW\u2019s capacity to liquefy and store natural gas by 1 billion cubic feet, about one-third larger than its current 2.2 billion cubic feet processing facility. Instead, the commission approved $1 million for an environmental impact study and $4 million for an engineering study.\n <\/p>\n

The studies will \u201cevaluate the liquefier\u2019s current condition, structural integrity, operational efficiency, and remaining useful life along with emissions and air quality effects,\u201d according to a press release sent immediately after the vote by City Controller and Chair of the Philadelphia Gas Commission Christy Brady and City Councilmember and vice-chair of the commission Mike Driscoll.\n<\/p>\n

Driscoll and Brady said more information is needed to review the impact of an expanded liquified natural gas facility.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a fuller picture of the proposed LNG liquefier replacement before moving forward with the approval of PGW\u2019s $182 million cost estimate,\u201d Brady said in a statement. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been shown that the replacement project was ready and lacked important details such as design plans and the total costs to ratepayers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Speaking after the vote, Patrick Houston, who testified against the project as part of the coalition HERE 4 Climate Justice<\/a>, said he\u2019s happy with the decision to table the approved funding for now.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a move in the right direction,\u201d Houston said. \u201cThey are not allocating the $182 million for the LNG plant, and that\u2019s exactly what we demanded. We need greater scrutiny from the Gas Commission on PGW for any new energy projects, and we need to start to direct our money towards more affordable renewable alternatives and not more fossil fuel infrastructure.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Neighborhood residents, health care workers and climate activists have testified against the plans to replace and expand the plant, which sits along the Delaware River in the Port Richmond neighborhood.\n<\/p>\n

Gas Commission staff reverses their position on PGW\u2019s proposed Port Richmond LNG project<\/p>\n

In March, the commission\u2019s staff had reviewed the proposal as part of the utility\u2019s 2027 capital budget and recommended that the five commissioners reject the $182 million project,<\/a> saying the design plans were incomplete and that the utility did not justify the increased capacity. The Public Advocate agreed<\/a>, saying the new proposal was oversized and could overburden PGW customers with higher rates.\n<\/p>\n

But PGW argued approval for the plant was urgent, as the utility needed to have the liquefier operating by 2030 for safety and affordability. The utility said the increase in size is needed to meet demand and at the commission\u2019s meeting April 15, urged the commissioners to reject the staff\u2019s recommendation. Liquefied natural gas requires a substantial amount of energy to cool methane in its gaseous form to -260\u00b0 Fahrenheit, where it becomes a liquid. The plant has been operating since the 1970s and stores the gas in 12-story white storage tanks.\n<\/p>\n

One issue continues to be a lack of agreement between the two sides as to how much money the LNG plant saves ratepayers, and how much of the expansion costs would fall to ratepayers.\n<\/p>\n

But in a surprise move at the commission\u2019s meeting April 15, the commissioners tabled the vote<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

In an updated recommendation by the commission staff posted a week and a half later on April 27<\/a>, the hearing examiners continued to recommend rejecting the $182 million for the LNG plant in the fiscal year 2027 capital budget due to a lack of engineering plans. But it reversed course on other issues based on new information it said PGW provided. The commission staff now agrees with the utility that it needs to update the plant for safety reasons and agreed that it needs an increased capacity.\n<\/p>\n

Community Legal Services supervising attorney Rob Ballenger, who serves as the Public Advocate, told the commissioners Tuesday that staff should not have reversed its position on the need and size of the LNG plant.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI fundamentally disagree with staff\u2019s conclusion that PGW has substantiated its need for a liquifier capable of producing 3.3 [billion cubic feet] of LNG annually,\u201d Ballenger told the commissioners. \u201cStaff previously recognized PGW\u2019s proposal was outsized, and so could adversely impact rates. Staff now completely ignores those findings, placing customers at risk.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Ballenger said PGW relied on \u201cunsubstantiated and severely outdated\u201d data that dates back to the 1960s to justify the capital expense.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has never faced a shortage of gas with its existing facility capable of producing no more than 2.2 [billion cubic feet]. In fact, in many years, PGW has had excess supply. It has sold that excess supply in off-system transactions \u2026 to be trucked out of its facilities outside of Philadelphia.\u201d\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":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,93840,1311,94515,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,49740],"class_list":{"0":"post-792118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-pgw","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-gas-works","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-whyy-news-climate-desk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116564184769369373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792118","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=792118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792118\/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=792118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}