SALEM TOWNSHIP – People who live in a rural area near Berwick told Newswatch 16 that they have been approached by representatives of a power company, which wants to build a natural gas power plant a few miles away from a nuclear power plant.
"It`s not something that we were looking forward to, but it`s probably going to be inevitable and we`re not going to be able to stop it,” said Rich Stout.
State Department of Environmental Protection officials said that Moxie Energy is in the early stages of planning a 900 Megawatt power plant fueled by natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.
The proposed site is near Stouts home, and a few miles away from the PPL Nuclear Power Plant near Berwick.
Last week, PPL announced that it is getting out of the electricity generating business and it is selling the nuclear power plant to Talen Energy.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said Moxie Energy would need an Air Quality Plan approved before it would be able to build the natural gas power plant.
“It helps with cleaner air, less emissions, which is always a good thing. Also when you`re taking advantage of locally-produced, in this case natural gas, that`s a good thing also,” said Connolly.
Dusty Boyer lives near the nuclear plant along Route 11 and said she’s not pleased with plans for another power plant in Luzerne County.
"That`s two strikes against us living in Luzerne County, Salem Township,” said Boyer. "We don`t get most of the electricity. It goes out of state. So we have all of the danger, we paid for the construction and we have almost no benefit.”
Moxie Energy already has power plant projects in Bradford and Lycoming counties.