JESSUP -- Borough council in Jessup will hear Monday night from the company that wants to build a gas-fired power plant in an industrial park.
It will also hear from opponents who say the plant will create noise, traffic and pollution.
The meeting at Valley View High School in Archbald began at 6 p.m. and the Jessup borough council has the final say on whether it should change zoning in the industrial park, a move that could determine whether or not the natural gas power plant ever gets built.
While borough council members will hear both sides of the proposal, three smaller but similar plants are under construction in other communities in our area.
But unlike Jessup, these plants never had much opposition.
There are 33 acres in Asylum Township, near Towanda in Bradford County that were once a family farm. Two years ago, a company called Panda Energy started building a 829 megawatt power plant.
"It's all busy, every day."
Debby Johnson runs a home day care center. The natural gas-fired power plant that's near completion is practically in her back yard.
"It came to be a big surprise, I'm sure, to a lot of people. But I think it came out pretty good," Johnson said.
"With this, maybe it will bring in more industry. Whatever it takes," said township supervisor Lee Allan.
There's no organized opposition now, but a decade ago, people in Asylum Township were fuming when a gas-fired power plant was proposed for the exact same site.
Some community leaders were fishermen. The initial plan called for water from the nearby Susquehanna River to cool the plant's turbines. But when a new design called for air to cool the plant, potential opponents started supporting it.
"We kind of thought this will be good for the township," Allan said.
This plant is set to fire up early next year.
A few months later, an identical plant from Panda Energy should be completed in Lycoming County's Clinton Township near Williamsport.
And on a site in Snyder County near Shamokin Dam where a coal plant shut down last year, Panda has plans to build a third natural gas-fired plant.
"They're placing these inside small communities," said former state and national Democratic Party committee member Evie McNulty. She is familiar with area politics and says viewpoints can differ from places like Lackawanna County to other parts of our area where gas drilling is big business.
"People have money in their pockets that wouldn't have it. And I think they're looking at that as, 'We've done well by the energy companies.'"
In Asylum Township, people talk about 500 construction jobs created by the plant and the possibility that it might reduce or eliminate township taxes.
"It made a lot of different changes out here. It gave some more opportunities for the community," said Johnson.
But opponents of the plant in Jessup see this hearing as the best chance to stop a plant that they believe will bring noise and pollution.
While opponents don't approve of power plants to the west, they point out the proposed plant here is much larger, which they believe brings more drawbacks.
