Community Corner
Lithonia Residents Adamant About Keeping Biomass Plant Out
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division held a public meeting and hearing on the controversial proposed plant, slated for an area in unincorporated Lithonia.
The people who asked questions and comments Tuesday at the Lou Walker Senior Center about the proposed biomass gasification plant made things crystal clear: they still don't want it.
Click on the attached video to see some of the comments at Tuesday's meeting.
About 100 people attended the gathering, which began with a presentation about the plant by Eric Cornwell, permitting program manager with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, followed by a question and answer period in which people still made comments. The public hearing portion was last.
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Green Energy Partners, which has applied for an air quality permit, wants to build a 11.5 megawatt electric generating facility that would be located at 1770 Roger Lake Road in unincorporated Lithonia. It would have two biomass boilers. Biomass refers to wood, which EPD explained would come from forestry residue, yard limbs, clean used lumber -- nothing treated or painted.
Some people in the audience took issue with that, fearing that once the ink dried on the deal there wouldn't be as much attention paid to whether the materials were actually "clean."
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Concerned about everything from pollution to truck traffic in the residential area near the proposed plant; to the effect of the particulates on asthmatics, the elderly and children; to what would happen in the event of an emergency at the plant, residents said they would continue to fight the project.
Green Energy Partners' president and CEO Neville Anderson attended the meeting but did not address the questions or comments.
According to an article in Crossroads News, the plant has been approved for property tax incentives by the DeKalb Development Authority.
Until Dec. 26, EPD will receive comments on the Green Energy air quality permit appliction and draft permit. E-mail comments to: eric.cornwell@gadnr.org
Mail comments to:
Eric Cornwell, stationary source permitting program manager
Air Protection Branch
Environmental Protection Division
4424 International Parkway, Suite 120
Atlanta, GA 30354
See also: Edler on Proposed Biomass Plant: 'I don't want any exposure that I don't have to have'
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