Mayfield ethanol plant stalled

Zoning hearing board decision upheld

By TOM KANE

MAYFIELD, PA - An ethanol plant planned for Mayfield Borough near Scranton may not get built.

A recent decision by the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas upheld the decisions by the Mayfield Borough zoning hearing board. The board reversed an earlier decision by the old borough council to change zoning in favor of an ethanol plant to be built by Richard Scheller of the Northeast Ethanol and Renewable Resources.

Voters who were opposed to the plant because of possible environmental impacts and other concerns, and who opposed the change of zoning that would have made construction of the plant possible, ousted every member of the council except the one who opposed the plant.

But zoning and environmental concerns were not the only reasons for local opposition to the plant.

“Pennsylvania case law says that a municipality must consider the effect of a commercial venture like this plant on the property values of surrounding properties,” said Attorney Timothy Kelly, who represented a group of residents who are opposed to the plant.

“The ruling of Judge Peter O’Brien supported the zoning hearing board and the opposing residents,” Kelly said.

Scheller said that he must now weigh his options and begin a dialogue with the borough council.

“He has 30 days to decide whether he will appeal or not,” Kelly said.

Another ethanol plant is planned to be built in Indian Orchard, near the intersection of routes 6 and 652, across the Lackawaxen River from Rusty Palmer’s.

In other ethanol developments in Northeast Pennsylvania, a company called EthosGen in Dallas has received a $1.2 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to move forward with an experimental ethanol production facility. Funding for the contract was in the large spending bill President George Bush signed on September 29.

The cofounder of the firm, Jim Abrams, told the Citizens Voice that his company’s method of producing ethanol, which uses switch grass rather than food products such as corn, could produce up to 75,000 gallons of ethanol per year in a one-acre facility, which is a far higher yield than achieved by traditional production methods.

U.S. Representative Chris Carney supported EthosGen’s effort to secure the contract. He said the technology could reduce the DOD’s dependence on foreign oil.