Nov 3, 2021
We are glad to learn that Nacero Inc. is building a natural gas-to-fuel plant in Newport Township, near Nanticoke.
According to an Associated Press article in Monday’s Sun-Gazette, the $6 billion project will create 450 jobs at the plant, after its construction creates hundreds if not thousands of jobs. These jobs have the potential to be family-supporting careers and the Nanticoke area is not an unreasonable commute from southeastern Lycoming County.
The company plans to build nine such plants across the country, with construction of the first underway in Texas. A study by that project by the University of Texas expects the project to have a “$25 billion ripple effect.”
It means more prospective buyers for people selling homes from southeastern Lycoming County through Columbia and Luzerne counties, more customers for restaurants and stores, more taxpayers on county and school district rolls and more neighbors joining our churches and community groups.
It means growth.
Beyond the jobs created, the plant will use a catalytic process to convert natural gas rather than more traditional processes. The catalytic process release fewer pollutants. The plant also will convert methane, itself a pollutant, into natural gas and then into fuel. Thomas Tureen, chairman of Nacero’s board, noted that the gasoline produced also releases less ground-level ozone into the air.
It all illustrates the role natural gas plays as a bridge, a source of energy that is cleaner than coal and oil and can be consumed while other alternatives to energy, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric are better developed to be realistic alternatives.
This project is progress — both on the environmental front and in terms of…
