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Zoning for Power Plant: No Decision

JESSUP — The company that wants to build a natural gas power plant and the opponents of that proposed plant sounded off at a meeting in Lackawanna County....

JESSUP -- The company that wants to build a natural gas power plant and the opponents of that proposed plant sounded off at a meeting in Lackawanna County.

At Monday’s meeting, Jessup Borough Council put off deciding on whether to grant a zoning change and accommodate the proposed plant.

It’s a zoning decision that will go a long way towards determining the natural gas-powered power plant`s future.

The meeting was held at the Valley View High School auditorium in Archbald because there is no building in Jessup large enough to hold the 500 people who showed up.

Executives from Invenergy, the Chicago-based company that wants to build the plant in a small business industrial park in Jessup presented its case for a zoning change.

It claims it can`t build the plant because zoning regulations prevent the generation of electricity and that the plant`s smokestacks would be almost three times as high as the legal limit.

As expected, Invenergy officials told members of the borough council that it should support a zoning change to accommodate 200-foot smokestacks needed for the proposed natural gas-powered plant to operate. But the company also announced what it called a major change in the plant’s design.

Saying it is sensitive to concerns about wildlife, Invenergy officials announced an air cooling system will be used for the turbines at its proposed natural gas plant.

Its initial design called for water from the nearby Grassy Island Creek to cool the turbines.

Some feared that cooling the plant with creek water would raise water temperatures in the nearby Lackawanna River and threaten the fish and wildlife.

“We`ve been listening to the folks here in Jessup, and we`ve been talking to the different agencies, and we`ve gotten to the point where we think that`s the best solution going forward for this project,” said Invenergy Vice President Bryan Schueler.

45 miles away near Towanda in Bradford County, Asylum Township officials rejected a gas-fired plant on the banks of the Susquehanna River a decade ago, after a concern it would impact fishing.

When Panda Energy took over the project, and proposed air instead of water cooling, the plant passed with virtually no opposition. It will go online early next year.

But in Jessup, opponents of the plant say the shift from cooling plant turbines from water to air is a diversion, not a game changer.

“I think we need to know more about this change,” said Mike Fiorelli of Jessup.

Fiorelli says the change may reduce the possibility of water pollution, but increase another threat to the quality of life.

“And we hope Invenergy will address the noise level, the increased noise level that will be created from an air-cooled plant versus a water-cooled plant,” Fiorelli said.

Opponents of the plant did not have the chance to even present their case tonight.

They claim current zoning protects them from the noise, air pollution, and traffic that critics say would come with the power plant.

The hearing is scheduled to continue at another meeting May 26.

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