Houston, Texas-based fuel company Nacero said on Friday it will build a $6 billion manufacturing facility in Newport Township, Pa., the single largest investment in Luzerne County history.
The new plant will manufacture cleaner gasoline on the site of a former coal mine in Nanticoke, Pa. and generate high-paying jobs for skilled trade workers, state lawmakers said. The investment will generate nearly 4,000 construction jobs in the area and the completed facility will employ about 450 workers. Nacero plans to begin work on the new facility in 2022-23. The project is estimated to be completed sometime in 2026-27.
“Nacero could have located anywhere, but chose Pennsylvania as a result of its ingenuity, talented workforce and strong economy,” Dennis Davin, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said.
The new manufacturing facility will produce tens of thousands of barrels per day of low- and zero-lifecycle carbon footprint gasoline made from natural gas and renewable natural gas, the company said, adding that the competitively priced gasoline would be usable in today’s cars and trucks without modification.
“This is about clean energy jobs,” state Sen. John Yudichak (I-Luzerne) said at a news conference. “Nacero will fuel the plant with 100 percent renewable energy. They will use natural gas, our abundant, clean-burning natural gas as a feedstock to produce a gasoline that is zero sulfur emissions and 50 percent less CO2 emissions.”
David N. Taylor, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, said the project “will spur an economic transformation in Northeast Pennsylvania.”
“By utilizing the latest, safest, and most environmentally sound technologies to transform Pennsylvania natural gas into low carbon fuel, this is a monumental economic and environmental win for our commonwealth and is precisely the type of investment Act 66 of 2020 was designed to attract,” Taylor said.
Act 66 of 2020 established a Local Resources Manufacturing Tax Credit to spur investments in Pennsylvania.
“This news is good for our economy and our environment,” state Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R-Luzerne) said. “We can have good-paying jobs and a cleaner environment at the same time with this investment.”