Pennsylvania consumers, and our region’s economy, received some very exciting news yesterday. The Pennsylvania “Department of Environmental Protection today issued an air quality plan approval to Moxie Liberty LLC of Vienna, Va., for construction of the first power plant in Pennsylvania to run on natural gas, including gas from the Marcellus Shale,” according to a press announcement.

Using more clean-burning American natural gas from the Marcellus Shale continues to benefit every Pennsylvanian, through more tax revenues, more affordable energy costs and of course more local jobs. Specific to job creation, DEP notes that “The plant, which will generate up to 936 megawatts of electricity, will be built in Asylum Township, Bradford County, and create 500 construction jobs at its peak.” Welcomed news indeed for the Commonwealth.

Commenting on the announcement, DEP secretary Mike Krancer said:

“Today is a red-letter day for Pennsylvania. With this approval, Moxie now has all that it needs from DEP to move forward with the construction of this historic facility, which will use clean, pipeline-quality, locally produced natural gas as fuel. This power plant will benefit the environment and the economy by using a cleaner fuel and creating hundreds of jobs. It is a win-win and another landmark moment in the long history of Pennsylvania’s leadership role in producing and delivering energy for our nation.”

This important investment only builds upon the positive progress underway in Pennsylvania to use more homegrown natural gas to meet our growing energy demands. In November of 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) profiled the Commonwealth’s electricity profile. As more affordable American natural gas is safely produced from the Marcellus Shale, these resources are being further leveraged to power our economy and heat our homes. EIA provides this graph in a post entitled “Pennsylvania’s use of natural gas for power generation has grown rapidly”:

And this from E&E News under the headline “Pa. plant ‘born of Marcellus’ gets final permits”:

For Moxie Energy LLC, the parent company, the goal of building two plants in Pennsylvania is getting closer. It is awaiting approval for a similar plant, in nearby Lycoming County. With both plants, the aim is to burn low-cost Marcellus gas mined nearby, then sell it into high-value Northeastern power markets. Aaron Samson, Moxie’s president and founder, said Pennsylvania already has natural gas power plants but these two are “kind of the first ones that were born of Marcellus.”

Likewise, the project’s overall economic impact cannot be denied. This from Moxie Liberty LLC:

Construction of the project will take approximately 30 months and employ an average of 200 skilled and non-skilled workers and a peak workforce of about 500. The direct construction payroll is expected to be about $40 million; the indirect and induced payroll (an estimate of the money spent on outside goods and services such as hotels and apartments, food, clothing, gasoline, and other things) is expected to be about $80 million using a conservative multiplier of two. Once completed in mid-2015, the $800+ million investment will provide a significant and steady tax base to the area, 25 to 35 high paying technical and operations jobs, and an ongoing source of community programs.”