$6 billion Nacero project still planned for Newport Township

NEWPORT TWP. — In October 2021, when the Texas-based Nacero announced its intent to build a $6 billion manufacturing facility on the site of a former coal mine, it was called “a monumental, transformative, game-changing generational opportunity” for Luzerne County.

The facility would produce gasoline made from natural gas and renewable natural gas, generating thousands of high paying, family-sustaining jobs.

A key official says the project remains on track, although work has yet to begin, and that its production focus may shift.

Tom Tureen, founder of Nacero — and a director with the company — told the Times Leader on Friday that plans for the plant are still alive.

“Nothing has changed,” Tureen said. “We still intend to do the project. The only difference might be we will build the plant to make aviation fuel.”

In his remarks Friday, Tureen later said Nacero is “likely” to produce aviation fuel in Newport Township, rather than gasoline.

Tureen also qualified his comments by noting that Nacero will transition its current pre-construction, multi-billion USD facility in Texas, designed to produce low carbon gasoline, to the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and lower carbon aviation fuel (LCAF).

When fully completed, Nacero’s facility in Texas will be the largest commercial scale facility in the U.S. for producing SAF and LCAF utilizing TOPSOE’s MTJet technology. TOPSOE is a leading global developer and supplier of decarbonization technology, catalysts, and solutions for the energy transition.

Eighteen months ago, officials said the Newport Township project was expected to begin “within the next two years and will take four more years to complete.”

“As we said before, we are going to build the Texas plant first,” Tureen said. “And I really can’t say if our timeline in Luzerne County will change all that dramatically.”

Newport Township Manager Joe Hillan last week said Nacero has not yet applied for any permits for the proposed project.

Legislators weigh in

Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, said the Nacero project still looms as a huge winner for the area.

“Re-using former coal lands is an environmental gain,” Baker said. “A construction project of this scope, relying on union workers, provides an immediate economic boost. In the huge energy production sector, there is demand for every form of energy. From an outside perspective, there is nothing alarming about a shift in the type of fuel produced at the facility. This project remains an important component of the industrial revitalization underway in the South Valley.”

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, said his office has been in contact with Nacero regarding the development of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project in Texas, the site of their first-planned plant that had been slated for automobile fuel production.

Cartwright said the Inflation Reduction Act included a robust tax credit for the production of SAF.

“While the Act also provided a credit for automotive fuel, the SAF incentive is larger, as electric air travel is not really an option at present, the way EV technology is available for automobiles,” Cartwright said. “I can understand any alternative fuel company wanting to take advantage of the unique opportunity that exists with respect to air travel.”

Cartwright said given the shift to SAF, he can also understand how that might affect Nacero’s schedule.

“It is my understanding that Nacero is still weighing its production options for Newport Township,” Cartwright said. “I would support an SAF product in Pennsylvania as well, if that’s the decision Nacero ultimately makes.”

Cartwright went on to say: “While I can’t predict or dictate the business decisions of Nacero, I will continue to advocate for low-carbon life-cycle fuels and remain supportive of Nacero and others who are looking to lead in that effort. Alternative fuel production would be a tremendous opportunity for our area.”

Yudichak praises production ‘pivot’

Former state Sen. John Yudichak was the point person in bringing the Nacero project to Luzerne County in 2021.

“In 2021, Nacero announced it had selected a 3,000-acre site in Newport Township and Nanticoke to develop a $6 billion manufacturing facility that would use Pennsylvania natural gas to produce a low carbon gasoline,” Yudichak said. “Thanks to the hard work of former Gov. Tom Wolf and legislative champions like state Sen. Lisa Baker and state Rep. Aaron Kaufer, a $1.2 billion local resource manufacturing tax credit was put in place to incentivize companies, like Nacero, to invest in Pennsylvania.”

Yudichak said when the Nacero site selection was announced, legislators were clear to point out that a project of this magnitude and a project facing the headwinds of a global pandemic, hyperinflation, and war in Eastern Europe would take several years to come to fruition.

“I am thrilled to learn of Nacero’s pivot to the production of a low carbon aviation fuel, a product that does not exist in the market today and could be a game-changer for the airline industry, demonstrating Nacero’s continued commitment to addressing climate change,” Yudichak said. “Furthermore, I am pleased to see Nacero remains committed to Luzerne County and the long-term development of a manufacturing facility in Newport Township and Nanticoke.”

In October 2021, when the Nacero project was announced, Yudichak hosted a press conference and said there would be 3,500 construction jobs available to build the massive facility, with all building trades involved. Once completed, Yudichak said the Nacero facility would employ 450 high-tech jobs that would pay $85,000 per year.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, said he has been pushing the Biden Administration to start getting investments to help build a clean energy economy “out the door” to bring new, cutting-edge jobs and economic revitalization to places like Pennsylvania’s coal country.

Casey said when the Senate Finance Committee marked up the Clean Energy for America Act in May 2021, he secured the inclusion of clean energy tax credits to incentivize companies to operate in energy communities.

Months later, the Clean Energy for America Act was incorporated into the reconciliation framework.

When the Inflation Reduction Act came together in 2022, the Clean Energy for America Act was incorporated into the tax title and became law, including Sen. Casey’s energy communities tax credits.

Casey is pushing the administration to release guidance on how to claim the tax credits so energy communities in Pennsylvania and elsewhere begin to see these investments.