In 2013, concern erupted and the decision was made to reroute a proposed natural gas pipeline, originally slated to go through State College’s Highlands Neighborhood, onto the University Park campus of Penn State to supply the West Campus Steam Plant with additional natural gas. At Penn State’s energy forum in September, Denice Wardrop, director of Penn State’s Sustainability Institute, committed to conducting a stakeholder assessment about this process. The results of that assessment have been released and are available at sustainability.psu.edu.
The report examined the interaction between Penn State, Columbia Gas, the State College Borough and local residents. Interviewees provided wide-ranging suggestions for long-term energy planning processes moving forward. The report highlights a number of broad opportunities for establishing collaborative, local, long-range energy planning goals and processes, while pointing out critical questions that must be answered before moving forward.