Renovo Gets Rolled Over by Pennsylvania’s Ugly Rich Elites

The same three radicalized environmental groups that have repeatedly attacked the $1.1 billion Renovo Energy Center (REC), a Marcellus gas-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA, have finally won. The Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and the Center for Biological Diversity (all completely radicalized fossil fuel bigots) have repeatedly challenged permits for REC. Last week the builder of the project, Bechtel Corp., announced it is pulling out of the project which has been in the planning stages for eight years. The reason for canceling the project is because of “the ongoing appeals from environmental groups.” What a tragedy.

Sometimes the bad guys do win, unfortunately. That’s life.

In 2020, MDN told you about the Marcellus-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA, a resurrected project come back to life as an even bigger project that will produce 1,240 megawatts of electricity (see Renovo Energy Center Roars Back to Life, Upsized to 1,240 MW). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the project in April 2021, including an amended air quality permit (see Update on Renovo Marcellus-Fired Plant in Clinton County, PA).

In May 2022, the three radical groups challenged the air permit, further holding up progress on the facility (see Clinton County Renovo Gas-Fired Plant On Hold Due to Air Permit). In August 2022, they won a partial summary judgment lowering the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) the new plant can emit (see Radicals Win Challenge Against Renovo Energy Center in NCPA). Put another way, the DEP changed the rules of the game (the stipulations in the permit) after the game had been played (the permit was issued). REC reluctantly said it would comply with the revised/changed permit (see Renovo Energy Center Signals It Will Comply with Lower Air Permit).

You would think the radicals would be happy. They got what they wanted, right? Wrong. In November, the radicals appealed the DEP’s changed, far-stricter rules for the project (see PA DEP Extends Renovo Gas-Fired Plant Permit, Radicals Appeal).

Radicals are never happy because they don’t really want lowered emissions from the plant (which is what reasonable people would want). What they reallywant is for the plant to get axed. They don’t want it built at all. That is their aim, which is why we call them unreasonable and radicalized. For these kinds of people, it’s scorched earth–it’s their way or the gulag.

The bad guys, the radicals, finally got their way:

Plans for a $1 billion natural gas-fired power generating plant on the site of former railroad yards in a borough northwest of Lock Haven in Clinton County have been scrapped.

“It’s a sad and disappointing time,” Michael Flannigan, president and CEO of the Clinton County Economic Partnership, said Friday about the decision of the Bechtel Corp. of Reston, Va.

Bechtel cited the ongoing appeals from environmental groups as the reason for discontinuing the project that had been in the planning stages for eight years.

The company referred to the appeal filed two years ago by the Clean Air Council, Penn Future and the Center for Biological Diversity over the approval by the state Department of Environmental Resources of the air quality permit.

Only recently did the Environmental Hearing Board schedule a hearing on the appeal for later this year.

“After more than eight years, we do not see a path to a reasonable conclusion of the project’s air permit appeal and have made the difficult decision to discontinue development,” Bechtel said in a statement.

It noted the opponents were poised to appeal any further permit renewals.

An environmental hearing judge asked the parties to discuss settlement talks but it was to avail, the company stated.

“This could have meant a lot to an area that badly needs growth,” Flannigan said.

“There was tremendous community and local and state official support for this project. In the end, the delay tactics of the environmental groups won out.”

The Clean Air Council, Penn Future and the Center for Biological Diversity praised Bechtel’s decision stating in a release:

“After many years of community opposition and nearly two years of litigation, the residents of Renovo can breathe easier.”

“Bechtel’s decision to cancel this dangerous plant is a crucial win for the health, welfare and safety of the residents of Renovo, who have been peddled lies about this project’s purported benefits and illegally cut out of the permitting process,” said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director and chief counsel of the Clean Air Council.

“It is a win for Renovo and for all Pennsylvanians when we realize that the fracked gas industry doesn’t make sense – from an economic, energy or environmental health perspective,” said PennFuture’s senior attorney Jessica O’Neill.

“The cancellation of this proposed fracked gas burning power plant helps move us forward to a future powered by wind and solar power,” said Robert Ukeiley, an environmental health lawyer at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“As a great-grandparent, I’m grateful that this power plant didn’t come to fruition because we are now able to protect what is most important – the health of our children,” said Sue Cannon, co-founder of Renovo Residents for a Health environment.

Environmental groups had contended the proposed 1,240-megawatt generating plant would be one of the most polluting facilities in the commonwealth.

The Clean Air Council claimed it would annually emit more than 200 tons of particulate matter, 300 tons of nitrogen oxides and 100 tons of volatile organic compounds.

Last September the Environmental Hearing Board found the approved air quality plan set emission levels too high for sulfur dioxide. Renovo Energy agreed to the lower limits.

The three organizations appealed challenging the approved emission levels of volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide from the auxiliary boilers.

The power plant was to be built on the site where up to 1,200 were employed after World War II repairing engines and cars for the former Pennsylvania Railroad.

Gene Bruno, the Mayor of Renovo, has a question for these three sleazy groups: What plans do the Clean Air Council, Penn Future, and the Center for Biological Diversity have for the economic growth of Renovo?You see, these groups are jobs and economy destroyers. They never generate a single dollar nor a single new job wherever they go. They always destroy. That is their mission.

Mayor Bruno said, “This [cancelation] has killed us. It hurt us big time.” He calls what these groups have done “legal extortion.” He’s right.

The mayor of Renovo has a question for the environmentalists who blocked the construction of a $1 billion natural-gas fired electric generating plant in his borough.

Mayor Gene Bruno wants to know what plans the Clean Air Council, Penn Future and the Center for Biological Diversity have for the economic growth of Renovo.

Their opposition opposition to the Renovo Energy project caused the Bechtel Corp. of Reston, Va., to announce plans for it have been discontinued.

Two years ago they appealed the approval by the state Department of Environmental Resources of the air quality permit but the Environmental Hearing Board only recently scheduled a hearing for this fall.

The organizations also indicated they planned to appeal any other permit approvals.

“After more than eight years, we do not see a path to a reasonable conclusion of the project’s air permit appeal and have made the difficult decision to discontinue development,” Bechtel said in a statement.

“We were blindsided,” Bruno said Saturday. “This has killed us. It hurt us big time.” He called it “legal extortion.”

Tax revenue the borough, county and the Keystone Central School District projected from the Renovo Energy Center project has disappeared, Bruno said.

The Clinton County borough of about 1,000 has to rely on grants for money to pave streets, he said. Some alleys have not been paved since he was a child, he noted.

He also is concerned about what is going to happen to the old rail yards.

He was among the 48 investors who years ago obtained bank financing to buy the 72-acre property for a rail car repair business.

It went out of business but Bechtel picked up the bank payments as part of its option on the property, he said.

If the investors are unable to make the payments the property will go to the bank, he said.

While Bruno is disappointed at losing the power plant, the Bucktail High School basketball coach said, “I always look at things from a coaching perspective.

“We got upset. We can sit around and lick our wounds or get back up and say – what’s next.

“It’s not about who won or who lost. It is about regrouping and moving forward.

“Renovo has been behind the 8-ball for quite a while. It would be easy to quit but that will not happen.

“We have a good community and a strong council. I remain positive about the future.”

Until Bechtel announced its decision, Bruno said he was hopeful issues between the environmental groups and Renovo Energy could resolved.

An Environmental Hearing Board judge asked the parties to hold settlement talks but it was to avail, the company stated.

“There was tremendous community and local and state official support for this project,” said Mike Flannigan, president and CEO of the Clinton County Economic Partnership. “In the end, the delay tactics of the environmental groups won out.”

Those organizations in a news release praising Bechtel’s decision included comments from two Renovo residents.

Bruno estimates the number of residents against the project was in the single digits.

With the power plant project gone, the mayor said he doubts he will hear from the environmentalists again.

Our advice for Mayor Bruno is to launch a lawsuit against the Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and the Center for Biological Diversity to recoup as much of the $1.1 billion as he can. It’s time to shut these groups down–using the same legal system they abuse so frequently. It’s time for lawfare.