York County Energy Partners cogeneration project: A case study in public participation

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:504668

Hamill, P ^[1]; Caperton, C ^[2]

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1. Dept. of Energy, Germantown, MD (United States)
2. Energetics, Inc., Washington, DC (United States)

In the summer of 1993, the US Department of Energy (DOE) modified an existing cooperative agreement to allow for the location of the York County Energy Partners (YCEP) Cogeneration Facility, 250-MW coal-fired plant, adjacent to the P.H. Glatfelter paper mill in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. The plant would demonstrate utility scale atmospheric fluidized-bed technology, supplying steam for the paper making process and electricity to be sold commercially. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, DOE`s cost share was considered a major federal action with the potential to significantly affect the environment, and thus an environmental impact statement (EIS) was required. In August 19895, DOE`s Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy signed a Record of Decision (ROD) to provide funding. In spite of this approval, and a State-approved air permit, pressure by sophisticated citizens groups contributed to the denial of key permits. In September 1995, YCEP and Met-Ed announced their joint intention to restructure the Power Purchase Agreement to allow for development of a natural gas fired facility. In January 1996, YCEP dropped the project altogether. This paper focuses on citizen actions used to influence the NEPA process conducted for the Spring Grove site, and traces the role of government and citizen groups throughout the sequence of events in order to draw conclusions about the effective role of each party. The paper describes the methods used by citizen organizations to work the system. Major citizen groups were interviewed by the authors to gain insight into their perceptions of events at Spring Grove and their own influence on the final outcome.

• OSTI ID: 504668
• Report Number(s): CONF-960954--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
COAL
DUAL-PURPOSE POWER PLANTS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
NATURAL GAS
PAPER INDUSTRY
PUBLIC ANXIETY
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC RELATIONS