EmberClear Corp. has reportedly cancelled plans for a 500,000 gallon/d gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in southeast Pennsylvania that had faced staunch opposition from residents living near a 63-acre site proposed for the facility.

In March, Calgary-based EmberClear earned preliminary approval to build the facility in South Heidelberg Township, located in Berks County about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia (see Shale Daily, March 5, 2014). The $1 billion plant would have produced gasoline and propane.

Shortly after the township gave the project preliminary approval, opponents began organizing a campaign to stop its construction (see Shale Daily, April 17, 2014). They circulated a petition to ban it; distributed T-shirts and yard signs for residents to demonstrate their opposition; raised money and voiced their concerns with township officials.

A local company representative was unavailable to comment on Tuesday. But according to news media reports, the company cited community opposition and the timeline for obtaining the necessary permits as the primary reasons for dropping the project.

Although there is no Marcellus Shale development occurring in southeast Pennsylvania, Berks County is somewhat close to development in the northeast and also near Philadelphia’s industrial complex. The company’s purchase-option for the 63 acres of land there had also expired. EmberClear still has plans to build two 300 MW combined-cycle power plants in nearby Schuylkill County (see Shale Daily, May 28, 2013).