PORT RICHMOND (KYW Newsradio) — Residents and clean energy advocates raised concerns about a proposed expansion to a liquefied natural gas facility in Port Richmond on Thursday as Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) presented its 2027 budget.
PGW’s 2027 budget includes millions of dollars for expanding the facility that sits along the Delaware River.
Port Richmond resident Meg Lemieur was among the dozen or so residents and advocates that spoke out against the facility expansion. She wondered why PGW had plans to use more natural gas.
“Who else is invested in this plant?” she said. “Port Richmond will suffer because of this plant while PGW makes money. That money doesn’t go back to Philadelphians.”
PGW currently operates plants in Port Richmond and Passyunk. In a statement, the company said the funding in the budget will “maintain, update and replace critical components of our current LNG infrastructure” to heat the city.
Mitch Chanin, a Philadelphia resident and a member of the watchdog group Climate Justice Coalition, said at a time when the city plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, investing in liquified natural gas doesn’t make sense. He said PGW also commissioned a “low carbon pathways” report that has not been released.
“That is a report that's supposed to help chart out pathways for changing the utility,” said Chanin. “We should wait till that's published before the regulators and-or city council approves these massive expenditures in fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Sara Baier, a resident of Port Richmond, said the neighborhood has a history of industrial pollution.
“I am concerned,” she said. “I'm concerned about environmental exposures. I'm concerned about my child's health and the health of the other children I know in our neighborhood.”