A Texas-based energy company wants to expand a natural gas processing facility in western Pennsylvania that has had multiple environmental violations since opening in 2020.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection(DEP) has proposed issuing an air permit to Energy Transfer LP, a Dallas-based pipeline conglomerate, for its ‘Revolution Cryo II,’ an enlargement of its ‘Revolution Cryo I’ plant at 76 Rover Lane, in Smith Township, Washington County.
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The expansion would enable the facility to produce an extra 27,000 barrels per day of ethane and 18,000 barrels per day of propane.
Smith Township is already home to multiple natural gas processing facilities, pipelines, and Marcellus shale well pads. The Revolution plant fractionates, or separates, gas produced at wells into methane and natural gas liquids.
But the plant has had its share of problems, including a Christmas day fire in 2022 and dozens of violations for allowing smoke to billow off the facility from its flares.
Despite these issues, supporters of the expansion project spoke at a recent DEP hearing about the benefits it will bring to the local economy.
“The project represents significant and vital investment within Washington County,” said Bill Miller, vice president of membership at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. “The expansive project is estimated to contribute millions of dollars in wages during construction and will employ 70 workers and 8 to 10 permanent operations jobs.”
Matthew Henderson, a marketing and business consultant with the oil and gas industry, said the plant plays an important role in producing products like propane, used for heating and cooking, and ethane, which is a feedstock for plastics.
“These products heat homes, fuel power plants, and supply manufacturers across the United States,” Henderson said. “Expanding this facility means expanding that capacity at a time when energy production and affordability are more critical than ever to Pennsylvania’s families and businesses.”
But the expansion is controversial, especially given the plant’s history.
According to DEP records, the processing station has had multiple violations since beginning operations in 2020. In 2021, the company was cited by the state for “failure to prevent visible emissions into the atmosphere” during a March 2021 inspection.
On Christmas Day, 2022, a fire burned at the plant for over 9 hours, according to DEP records, and led to an evacuation of nearby residents.
Over an eight-month period between June, 2024 and March, 2025, the plant emitted visible emissions 107 times on 29 separate days, according to a state-issued consent agreement.
Among those who oppose the expansion is Cat Lodge, a Washington County resident who works for the non-profit Environmental Integrity Project. Lodge lives two miles from the plant.
“I’m directly downwind of it and I can see the flares, watch the black smoke occur, (I) watched the fire occur in 2022,” she said.
That fire started after a section of the plant exploded. According to DEP records, the explosion was started when a defective valve released a vapor cloud of natural gas liquids, which ignited.
Lodge said another reason the plant poses a problem is that it lies within a mile of two compressor stations, including one owned by Energy Transfer, and another large gas plant, the Harmon Creek Gas Plant owned by MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, L.L.C.
“And all of this is surrounded by well pads, which are also emitting,” Lodge said. “So it’s a very polluting industry that shouldn’t be in the agricultural area or anywhere near residential [areas].”
Brenda and Nolan Vance live less than a mile from the Revolution station, and said they can smell fumes coming off the plant.
“It smells like exhaust fumes coming out,” said Nolan Vance.
The couple are surrounded by gas infrastructure that, like the Revolution plant, has also been expanding in recent years. They can sometimes feel vibrations in their house from the construction.
“To keep letting it grow more and more and more is just, it’s more damaging,” said Brenda Vance. “We keep saying we’re going to move, but where do you go?”
The DEP issued a proposed permit for the project in April; it will decide on the air permit application in the next few months.
Like other gas facilities nearby, the Revolution is considered a minor source of air pollution. Mark Gorog, air quality program manager at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said bigger sources require Clean Air permits from the federal EPA.
Including the expansion, the facility has the potential to emit up to 49.53 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) per year, just below the 50 tons per year level for a “major” source of air pollution.
Lodge said the cumulative impact of these sources of pollution should be taken into account by the DEP.
“We start(ed) with one plant and they just keep piling on other companies and (they keep) expanding,” Lodge said. “And so now we are basically a big hub for Washington County.”
The plant’s past problems don’t factor into the DEP’s decision whether to grant the air permit, Gorog said. The agency addressed air pollution at the plant with its consent agreement over the visible emissions last year.
The DEP required the company to replace equipment at its flares, where the facility burns off gas to reduce safety and environmental hazards, and increase monitoring.
“We added the requirement that they will do video surveillance of their flare plume at all times. Before it was an option, now it’s mandatory,” Gorog said.
The company was also fined $91,550, but he said that wasn’t the most important part of the agreement.
“The big thing was they did corrective action on the flares so that it wasn’t generating smoke,” Gorog said. “We want to fix the problem. We want to correct this situation. We don’t, you don’t want it to go on.”
