JESSUP -- People in Jessup and surrounding communities saw large balloons hovering over part of an industrial park Wednesday.
The balloons showed people how high the smokestacks would reach if a company gets the go-ahead to build a natural gas power plant.
The Chicago-based power company Invenergy paid for the balloons so it could accurately show how the proposed plant will change the view from various vantage points around the Lackawanna Valley.
They look like weather balloons over the industrial park in Jessup. The balloons simulate 200 foot tall stacks for the natural gas power plant.
“They're putting up balloons at the height of the structures and they're going out into the community and taking photos," said Invenergy V.P. Dan Ewan.
Sandra Paciotti lives less than a mile from the site.
“I mean, it’s right there,” Paciotti said. “I`d be seeing tall stacks coming up out of the plant.”
“That is too close for comfort,” said Sandra`s neighbor and sister-in-law, Joann Paciotti-Mosher. She is a member of the group Citizens For A Healthy Jessup. That's the group opposing the Invenergy plant. Those citizens claim the plant will bring air and noise pollution, but Paciotti-Mosher took pictures of the balloons claiming they also represent visual pollution.
“I didn`t believe it was that close. And then I saw those balloons and said, `This is what I`m going to be looking at?’” Paciotti-Mosher said.
Some people in neighborhoods near the site say they saw the balloons up close and personal. Others say they had to strain to see dots in the distance. And still others didn`t see the balloons at all.
Ginger Adams runs a pie business in the center of Jessup. She supports the plant.
“No, I`ve been outside all morning,” Adams said.
Adams says most people can't see the site from their homes or offices.
As for those who can, “If you look up there now, it`s already built up. There are a lot of factories up there. What`s the difference?” Adams said.
Dan Ewan of Invenergy says the balloons don't represent a viewpoint, just a view.
“This is really the best way for people to understand what it`s going to look like,” Ewan said.
Invenergy doesn`t have a timetable when it will have its drawings of the proposed plant in jessup based off the balloons.
Opponents posted their own pictures on social media sites claiming the balloons represent smokestacks that pollute.