Council approves SCE expansion; company to manufacture potassium superoxide at Corporate Lane site

Murrysville council approved a land‑development application Wednesday allowing SCE Corporation to expand its Corporate Lane facility with a roughly 7,768 square‑foot addition to produce potassium superoxide used in self‑contained rescue devices for underground mining and tunneling.

Tom Johnson, president of SCE Corporation, told council the product is an oxygen‑generating chemical used in self‑contained rescue devices and said the facility would be “the only one in the United States” producing that substance. Johnson said the company hired engineers with alkali‑chemistry expertise to design safe process equipment. He described potassium superoxide as stable when sealed and said the manufacturing process will be designed with standard industry safety precautions.

Engineering and construction representatives described safeguards to separate the new building from the existing facility, including a roughly 10‑foot separation and an 8‑inch masonry “3‑hour firewall” to maintain compartmentation. The applicant said the project will add about 5–6 new manufacturing employees locally and that waste streams from air emission scrubbers and washdowns would be collected, neutralized for high pH and discharged under municipal permit guidelines.

Planning commission and staff recommended approval with conditions; the only requested waivers related to landscaping and buffering because the expansion would be built over existing impervious surface. Council approved the preliminary/final plan and waiver requests and instructed staff to process usual FTMA and permitting conditions reported by planning commission.

Council took a voice vote in favor; the motion carried.