This edition of PU was written by Robin Desin of the group Stop The Stacks. A company called "Panda Energy International," of Dallas, Texas, wants to put a power plant on a greenfield site in a rural area of Berks and Montgomery Countys. (What is it with the invasion of Penns Woods by developers from Texas? Just a few weeks ago, we looked at a remarkable letter from a Texas developer to DEP Secretary Jim Seif <http://www.rayproffitt.org/pu/pu112599.htm>. Today, we’re learning of some project by another Texas company on the other end of the state. Could this have anything to do with a certain Pennsylvania elected official trying to curry favor with a certain Texas elected official? Is DEP open for Texas’ business as well as (or more than) Pennsylvania’s business? Does DEP consider Texas’ developers to be better "customers" than Pennsylvania’s residents? Time will tell if this trend of "reverse carpetbagging" will continue.

Stop The Stacks makes a compelling case that, for all the brave talk about limiting sprawl through land-use planning and brownfields development, big corporations with their public relations machines and insider law firms seem to get more service from elected officials and public servants than do the public. The citizens then have to essentially do the public servants’ job for them if laws and regulations are going to be followed. To learn more about Stop The Stacks or the Panda project, contact Robin Hepler at  robindesin@aol.com  or 610-797-7538.

STS information will soon be available at http://www.user1.netcarrier.com/~cmacdona/index.html.

STOP THE STACKS

In July 1999, Panda Energy International of Dallas, Texas, established in 1982 as a privately owned developer of cogeneration projects, announced their intentions to construct a 1,000 megawatt combined cycle natural gas-fueled electric generating facility in the Upper Perkiomen Valley, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Panda Energy International has obtained a 3-year option to buy the John Wentz farm located at 1305 Stauffer Road, Palm, PA -- the proposed site for the merchant power plant. This tract consists of 14.13 ± acres located in the Highway-Commercial district of Hereford Township (Berks County), 21.98± acres located in the R1 (agricultural-low density residential) district of Upper Hanover Township (Montgomery County), and 65.89± acres located in the Limited Industrial-Commercial district of Upper Hanover Township. The members of Stop the Stacks oppose this project since it is fundamentally a development which is neither permitted nor appropriate for these zoning districts of Hereford and Upper Hanover Townships.

The Panda Perkiomen project is anticipated to utilize 35± acres of the 65.89± acres located in the Limited Industrial-Commercial district of Upper Hanover Township -- abutting the Palm Schwenkfelder Church property and a portion of the village of Palm’s residential community. This tract of land, part of a sub-basin for the Perkiomen Creek watershed, is an environmentally sensitive area containing wetlands, floodplains, and alluvial soils -- an important part of the hydrologic cycle, riparian corridor, and wildlife habitats.

The generation facility will consist of 4 combustion turbines, 4 heat recovery steam generators, 2 single-casing condensing steam turbines, circulating water cooling towers, a raw water storage tank, and 4 combustion stacks approximately 190-feet in height. The power plant will also require 6.5 to 8 million gallons of water a day to generate electricity. The Upper Perkiomen Valley already suffers from strained groundwater supplies. To meet these limits, Panda is proposing to construct an 18-mile pipeline to carry treated effluent from Kline’s Island, a wastewater treatment plant located on the Lehigh River, Allentown, PA. Water piped to the Panda Perkiomen plant will be converted to steam during the electrical generation process. This will result in a by-product of 1.6 million gallons of polluted water requiring treatment and ultimate discharge into the Lehigh River via a returning pipeline.

Here is a sample letter for folks to send;

Regional Director
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Lee Park, Suite 6010
555 North Lane
Conshohocken, PA 19428

Dear Mr. Feola:

Subject:  Panda Perkiomen Generating Station; APS ID No. 47650

We request public hearings and a careful review of the air quality application filed by Panda Perkiomen. We further recommend that the Panda Perkiomen air quality application should include a complete and conservative assessment of the significantly adverse impact of increased air pollution on the surrounding communities and townships. Furthermore, the cumulative adverse effects of all new and existing sources of air emissions that impact the Upper Perkiomen Valley and the Lehigh Valley should also be included in the evaluation of the Panda Perkiomen air permit application. The Panda Perkiomen air quality application makes no attempt to adequately identify or quantify the social and environmental costs. There has been no attempt to indicate why the benefits of this project outweigh the air quality in an ozone nonattainment area. Or why further air quality degradation and a dramatic change in the essential character of the community should be imposed to accommodate a generating station located on farmland -- surrounded by a rural community and a church -- simply because this is the most cost effective route for Panda Energy International to secure a return on their investment. The Panda Perkiomen generation facility is a controversial proposal with potential local and regional consequences in regard to quality of life and the environment. Public hearings for the Panda Perkiomen air permit application should be initiated to insure that all relevant information is available to the general public and all concerns of the community are appropriately addressed.

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