Local Chester activists were at last allowed to speak at the third and final public hearing held by the state’s liquified natural gas, LNG, export terminal task force at Widener University’s Lathem Hall on the morning of August 22. With all of the seats taken, people filled the hall, with many standing in the back for the two-hour session in which proponents spoke of the economic benefits of locating a terminal in Chester, and opponents questioned their motives.
After listening to Carl Marrara, the executive director of Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, speak of the worldwide demand for natural gas as a clean alternative to oil and coal; and of the economic benefits of exporting LNG from Pennsylvania, Zulene Mayfield, founder of Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, CRCQL, took her seat at the speaker’s table to shouts of approval.
“If this proposal is such an economic plus, why wouldn’t every community want to reap the benefits?” Mayfield asked. “Why would you deny your communities all of this wealth?”
Penn America Energy touts the LNG facility proposed for development along the Chester waterfront as a step toward clean energy, but Chester residents have heard this before. Their small city, predominantly black and low-income, is just over five square miles, but densely populated. It is home to Covanta’s incinerator, a sewage treatment plant, and a host of other polluting industries. Residents suffer high rates of respiratory illness, COPD, and cancer.
Mayfield cited American Lung Association statistics including a 38.5% asthma rate. She spoke of the family members she has lost to cancer, including her husband at the age of 51. Mayfield questioned why, when smaller plants around the country sit on 800 to 1,000 acres, why was the proposed site for Chester just over 100 acres? The buffer zone, she said, would displace 805 homes, four churches, and a day care center. Mayfield said that her facts came from the proposal provided by Penn America.
“We say NO!” Mayfield concluded to an explosion of applause and shouts.
Stefan Roots, Chester city councilmember and winner of the Democratic primary for mayor stated that he had 35,000 reasons to oppose the LNG terminal in Chester, a number equivalent to the number of city residents. He spoke of the need for economic development and said he would like to talk to developers who would offer economic development funds that would benefit the health and wellness of the city’s residents.
“Chester,” Roots said, “doesn’t have a single primary care doctor left in the city. Who would take the risk of moving to a small city with a big LNG facility?” he asked and went on to lament that the proposed site was not to be in the city’s backyard, but along the waterfront. Roots said that he would much prefer development that would bring new life into the city, similar to what has occurred along Camden New Jersey’s waterfront.
The LNG export task force, signed into law by Governor Wolf last November and approved by the General Assembly, was formed to study the development of a LNG terminal in southeastern Pennsylvania. No representatives from Delaware County or Chester sit on the task force.
Environmentalists argue that rather than embracing natural gas, Pennsylvanians should embrace green energy solutions such as solar and wind energy. “LNG is not ‘green’ because the processing of gas to LNG requires a lot of energy and much release of methane occurs at every step in the harvest, transmission and processing of the gas,” said Barbara Brandom, environmentalist and retired physician. “This excessive release of methane is driving global warming.”
After the hearing, activists like Erica Burman, and local citizens like Bonnie Waites, a life-long Chester resident, vowed to continue the fight.