Experts, officials and residents urge lawmakers to stop proposed Penn America LNG export terminal on Delaware River

CHESTER, Pa. — Scientists, health researchers, consumer advocates and local leaders told the Pennsylvania House Environmental and Natural Resources Protection Committee on Friday that a proposed Penn America liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal along the Delaware River would pose substantial safety, health, climate and ratepayer risks for Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The hearing brought testimony from Mayor Stefan Roots of Chester; climate scientist Robert Howarth of Cornell University; Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network; Lauren Minsky, a health-studies faculty member at Haverford College; Liz Marks of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project; and community advocates who described decades of local industrial pollution.

Those testifying urged the committee to weigh three types of harms: the facility's immediate public-safety and local-health consequences; the greenhouse-gas and methane emissions associated with producing, liquefying and shipping gas abroad; and the effect of expanded U.S. LNG exports on domestic gas and electricity prices.

"I am here to strongly and emphatically say no to LNG in or near our city," Mayor Stefan Roots said, noting Chester's ongoing redevelopment and designation as an environmental-justice community. "It would be devastating to our city's progress to put a ticking time bomb LNG terminal on our waterfront…