By Mary Spicer
Meadville Tribune
CONNEAUT LAKE —
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s northwest regional office will host its first public hearing in more than four years Wednesday to receive public input on the tires-to-energy plant Crawford Renewable Energy proposes to build in Greenwood Township’s Keystone Industrial Park.
The hearing will follow a public meeting scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Conneaut Lake High School. Both the meeting and the hearing are open to the public.
According to DEP spokesperson Freda Tarbell, seven people have signed up to speak during the public hearing portion of the evening. Tarbell said Monday that although the deadline for requesting a maximum of five minutes for presenting oral testimony was July 20, those attending Wednesday’s session will have an opportunity to add their names to the list of those presenting testimony. Anyone planning to testify is asked to bring three written copies of the oral testimony and exhibits to the meeting, Tarbell said.
The public hearing will focus exclusively on air plan approval for the project, a tire-derived-fuel-fired power plant proposed for the 80-acre site.
The public hearing will deal with the plan approval application submitted to DEP’s air quality program almost a year ago. In late June, DEP announced its intention to issue a plan approval for construction of the plant.
According to Tarbell, the hearing on the air plan was scheduled in response to multiple requests. “There was significant public inquiry about it,” she said Monday.
During the public meeting preceding the hearing, DEP’s air quality staff will provide information about the air plan approval, Tarbell said. “Then we will open up for questions and answers. Representatives of CRE will be there for that segment of the session, because we anticipate that some of the questions might be directed toward the company.”
The public meeting will cover all four DEP programs — air quality, solid waste, watershed management and water management (sewage and water waste) programs — that have received applications for various components of the project from CRE.
“During public meeting’s question and answer session, they can ask about any applications or proposals the company has placed before the department,” Tarbell said. “We will have staff from all those programs there.”
While public meetings are fairly common, the last public hearing on file in her office took place on March 8, 2007, when Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., a heavy construction services and products company, wanted to construct a new asphalt plant in Venango County’s Barkeyville, Tarbell said. The plant was ultimately built.
The plant proposed for Greenwood Township would generate up to 90 megawatts of electrical power from tire-derived-fuel using circulating fluidized bed boiler technology. The $337-million project would generate enough electricity to serve up to 75,000 homes.
An opposition group, Crawford Area Residents for the Environment, was formed soon after plans for the plant were announced in April 2010. A CARE spokesperson was not available for comment.
Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.
