Two grants worth millions of dollars have been awarded to a York County based manufacturing company to support its conversion to natural gas.
Governor Tom Corbett took a tour of Glatfelter in Spring Grove on Wednesday. Corbett announced that the paper product company will receive a $5 million Economic Growth Initiative Grant and a $3 million alternative and Clean Energy Grant.
The company's conversion from coal to natural gas is expected to secure jobs for employees as well as help reduce the total amount of carbon dioxide it emits.
"The regulatory framework that we have put into place creates a certainty that allows job creators like Glatfelter to make effective use of the energy resources that are here, and to expand and build for the long-term for the future," Corbett said.
The conversion project is also expected to make an estimated $290 million for the Commonwealth and more than $250 million for York County.
The Governor says the conversion will make Glatfelter one of the largest industrial natural gas users in the area because its new boilers will use more than 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually. Its gas consumption will be greater than the amount needed to supply the annual natural gas needs of the residents of Harrisburg or fuel every household in Pennsylvania for two full days.
Glatfelter is also investing more than $55 million of its own funds in the mill.