Aug 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Shari Sanger The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.


Work on a project that would convert methane gas from Alliance Sanitary Landfill into electricity continues to progress, moving closer to being in operation by the end of the year, officials said.

Last week, UGI/Penn Natural Gas crews started installing a segment of pipeline under the Lackawanna River in the area of Veterans Memorial Bridge on Davis Street.

To do so, they are boring diagonally through 600 feet of soil and 25 feet below the river, said Chet Merli, operations manager for UGI.

A 19-mile-long pipeline will eventually carry the gas from decomposing garbage at the landfill to PEI Power Corp.'s co-generation plant in Archbald.

There, it is expected to be converted into enough electricity to power about 20,000 homes per year.

Pipeline installation is about 85 percent complete, Mr. Merli said.

The line is all the way through Taylor, except for portions at the river, near the Pennsylvania Turnpike ramp and under Interstate 81 at St. Mary's bridge.

In the Midvalley, two small segments on Marshwood Road -- at Route 247 and crossing the Casey Highway -- are also unfinished but with less than a mile to go, Mr. Merli said.

Meanwhile, landfill officials are in the process of selecting a contractor to build a compression station at its South Keyser Avenue facility, spokesman John Hambrose said.

He said construction on the processing facility, which will compress and cool the gas before transmission, is expected to begin in mid-August.

Officials have said they hope to have the overall project up and running by the end of the year, and Mr. Merli says that goal is within reach.

"We're still on track," he said.

Contact the writer: ssanger@timesshamrock.com

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