An effort to stop a large utility marketer from building a plant in neighboring Heard County appears to be running out of steam.

Commissioner Jim McGuffey told the Coweta Board of Commissioners Tuesday afternoon that it appears there is nothing the county can do to stop Dynegy from building a 500-megawatt power station just across the line in Heard County.

But McGuffey said the news is not all bad.

After meeting with company officials last week, McGuffey said the company appears to be willing to work with concerned Coweta residents.

The company plans to meet with residents in early April and address many of their specific concerns. McGuffey said two of his main concerns were the sound and the smell that could be generated from the natural gas plant.

But officials said those two issues are not a problem and they would be willing to work with Coweta officials to get the word out on the plant's operations.

McGuffey said the company is planning not to use the six acres of the property that spills into Coweta County and has pledged to plant the area with pines to serve as a buffer.

He also said that no construction vehicles would be allowed on Hawk or Midway roads and the county would monitor the situation.

If we do see construction vehicles, we told them that we would put up barricades and they did not have a problem with that, he said.

Company officials were very apologetic for not better informing Coweta residents, he added, and said he thought the company would come under the state's guidelines for developments of regional impact, but found out different.

The state says we're a metro county and Heard is not, so they did not have to get our input, he said.

He pledged to keep the commission up to date on the situation.

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page