The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved Moxie Freedom LLC’s air quality plan, satisfying the state’s emissions control requirements for the company’s planned 1,050 MW natural gas-fired power plant in the northeast part of the state.

Moxie Freedom, a subsidiary of Virginia-based Moxie Energy LLC, submitted its air quality plan application to the state in October 2014. After a review, Mike Bedrin, director of the DEP’s northeast regional office, said the facility would utilize the best available control technology and lowest possible emission rate.

The plant would be located in Salem Township in Luzerne County. It is expected to connect with the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline and utilize Marcellus Shale gas to generate power that would be sold into the PJM Interconnection market.

DEP said the Freedom generating station would include a combustion gas turbine and a steam turbine with duct burners to reduce nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compound emissions. The project is expected to cost more than $800 million, and construction is anticipated to take a 18 months or more.

Moxie has proposed two other projects to utilize Appalachian natural gas, but it sold both to the private equity firm Panda Power Funds LP (see Shale Daily, Aug. 23, 2013). Those facilities, which would be capable of generating 829 MW each, are under construction in nearby Bradford and Lycoming counties (see Daily GPI, May 16, 2014).

The Freedom generating station would have record-keeping, emissions testing and monitoring to help DEP track pollutants and ensure compliance, Bedrin said.