WYALUSING, Pa. — Just outside Wyalusing along Route 6, there's a 40-acre footprint of land. It cleared three years ago and looks like it's ready to go, but nothing will be built there anytime soon.
New Fortress Energy backed out of plans to build a natural gas liquefying facility on the spot.
The land was home to several families and businesses, including Bluhm's Gas Sales, now on the other side of town.
"New Fortress bought our building, bought the land, bought everything around there, and we had to up and move our facility in quite a short timeframe up here," said Bluhm's manager Greg Smith.
You might think Smith would be frustrated by the stalled project that uprooted his business.
"I'm happy, yes, because I didn't really want to see the unsightliness of such a large facility in our very pristine area," he said.
Newswatch 16 found plenty of people in Wyalusing relieved that the project is not moving forward.
New Fortress agreed to halt its plans after three environmental groups filed a lawsuit hoping to stop the project. The company could try again, but it would have to start the state permitting process over.
People in town were more concerned about the aesthetics of a large plant than the possible environmental impact. Some hope that the cleared land right out of town doesn't idle for too long.
"It's kind of sad that people lost their homes and businesses had to move. But I think if they rebuild or do something over there, it would be a lot better. I'd rather see, you know, a shopping center or something like that since we have to drive 30 minutes to the closest Walmart. So, that would be great over there," Connor O'Hara said.
Newswatch 16 reached out to New Fortress Energy to see if it had plans to salvage the project. We have not heard back.
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