4/26/2006 Company continues work on power plant
_Bob Niedbala_ (mailto:niedbala@observer-reporter.com) , Staff writer, Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter
Wellington Development LLC continues to develop plans to construct a coal waste-fired power plant in Nemacolin, a project now before the state Environmental Hearing Board.
The company received an air quality permit for the proposed 525-megawatt plant from the state Department of Environmental Protection in June.
The permit, however, was appealed to the Environmental Hearing Board by two individuals and the environmental groups Group Against Smog and Pollution and National Parks Conservation Association. A hearing on the appeal will begin June 6.
Oral argument also will be heard Thursday on motions asking the board to rule on whether adequate public notice was given by DEP on its plan approval.
Stanley Sears of Wellington Development said the company is preparing for the June hearing and Thursday's argument is standard for this type of proceeding. Numerous motions already have been filed in the case, he said.
An attorney for the environmental groups said Thursday's argument would focus on whether DEP provided adequate notice on its plan approval to the general public as well as to federal land management agencies.
Attorney Michael Fiorentino of the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center said that if the board ruled in the groups' favor on the issue it could require DEP to complete the proper notice requirements.
The groups filed the appeal, claiming emission controls proposed for the plant failed to meet requirements of the Clean Air Act, he said.
Wellington continues to move forward with other aspects of the project while the appeal is pending, "within the restraints the appeal has placed on us," Sears said.
Work continues on the engineering as well as on other permitting requirements, he said.
The $800 million plant is expected to burn more than 3 million tons of waste coal annually from the Nemacolin, Isabella, LaBelle and Clyde coal refuse piles.
The plant will employ circulating fluidized bed combustion technology to burn the waste coal cleanly, company officials said. It also will have the benefit of cleaning up abandoned coal refuse piles that now are major sources of water pollution.
An average of about 900 people are expected to be employed during the three years the plant will be under construction. Once in operation, the plant will provide jobs for about 160 people, the company said.