Penn America Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Terminal in Chester

Physicians, environmental health experts, and community residents filled Chester City Hall today, voicing deep concern about Pennsylvania’s proposed investment in oil and natural gas and its implications for community well-being. Penn America has proposed a $6.7 billion Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Terminal in Chester or adjacent locations on the Delaware river. The company, led by CEO and public figure Franc James, who has no discernible experience in energy or construction, offered little more than the White House’s seal of approval and the vague promise of “jobs.”

This community says no, a statement echoed several times by Mayor of the City of Chester, Stefan Roots. Several Chester County residents and neighbors, along with educators and advocates from across the country, gathered to express their strong opposition against the Penn America’s proposal. The facility will bring devastating health outcomes, environmental damage, and economic burdens to the already densely populated and heavily polluted communities along the Delaware river.

There is ample scientific evidence to show that this proposal will be toxic. Dr. Robert Howarth, Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University, opened the discussion by highlighting the U.S.’s leading role in global greenhouse gas emissions and the severe consequences of continued methane release. Methane is responsible for roughly 30% of global pollutants driving climate change, which will only push us further from achieving vital climate goals.

Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director of Delaware Riverkeeper Network, detailed the dangers embedded in every stage of oil and gas production from drilling to transport to liquefaction. She warned that the proposed project would place more demand on fracking wells in Western PA, along with increase pollution and spills across gas pipelines. Chester residents will be exposed to catastrophic risks from the industrial processes, that will require temperatures of below 200-degree Fahrenheit for liquefaction, vapors clouds capable of producing second degree burns in 30 second, and the energy equivalent to 63 Hiroshima bombs. The threats would hit hardest in the densely populated Delaware Riverfront, where families already face elevated health and safety risks and lack primary health care, especially due to recent closure of community’s local health system, Crozer Hospital.

Lauren Minsky, Assistant Professor at Haverford Law Project, characterized various health concerns. Delaware County is an environmental justice community, with mainly low-income residents already exposed to pollution by several nearby chemical and petrochemical plants, a trash processing center, and the Monroe Energy refinery. Using EPA air toxic screening data, she explained that residents are at a high lifetime cancer risk, with statistically significant increases in laryngeal, liver, and childhood cancers linked to local pollutants. Every LNG terminal nationwide has been tied to toxic releases like benzene, raising alarm for an area already facing disproportionate harm. 

Liz Marx, Executive Director of PA Utility Law Project, pointed to economic burdens, particularly on low-income households struggling with energy, housing, and food insecurity. The LNG exports would drive up domestic gas and electricity prices, leaving Pennsylvanians to shoulder the costs of expanding into global energy markets. 

The hearing closed with powerful testimony from residents. James Hiatt spoke from personal experience as Founder of For a Better Bayou in Louisiana, a state that already hosts four LNG export facilities, where local communities face the highest cancer burdens in the nation. He warned communities not to trust the corporations that inevitably put profits before people. Zulene Mayfield, chairperson of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, has been a powerful advocate in Chester, Pa for many years. She described her community, in which children do not have parks, movie theaters, or doctors. Instead, her 38-year-old neighbor recently died from an environmentally linked cancer, similar to the cancer that took his mother’s life years earlier. Mrs. Mayfeild called for investments that protect health and future generations. She powerfully stated, “we are told to welcome companies that every other community deems undesirable, but this community says no.”

L to R: Devneet Kainth, Lauren Minsky, Christina DiGiulio.