Power plant in Pa. to use Marcellus gas

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvanian government agency announced it issued a permit for the construction of a power plant that would run partially on domestic shale natural gas.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection gave its approval for an air-quality plan issued by Moxie Liberty. The permit paves the way for construction of the first plant in the state to run on natural gas produced in the state's Marcellus shale play.

DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said the approval was a significant development for the state.

"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," he said in a statement.

The combined-cycle plan would generate as much as 468 megawatts of electricity. Krancer described it as a "win-win" for a state rich in natural gas.

An August review of information from the DEP by the Platts news survey stated natural gas production in the Marcellus shale play for the first six months of 2012 increased 82 percent compared to the same time last year.

Production reached 4.36 billion cubic feet per day for the first half of 2012, while operators reported 2.5 billion cubic feet per day during the same time last year.