Officials of the company whose plans for a power production plant are causing a raging controversy in Coweta County have decided to answer questions about the facility.

In a statement released this week, officials o Dynegy Inc. assured residents that everything was done properly when the firm sought to build a plant in neighboring Heard County.

Coweta commissioners recently learned that Dynegy is building a 500-megawatt, natural gas-fired electric generating plant, just across the line in Heard County.

But six acres of the site lie in Coweta County and are zoned rural reserve, not industrial. Officials from Dynegy approached the Planning Department about using the tract as a construction staging area, but were told the property would have to be rezoned first. The company decided not to seek a rezoning and planted Virginia Pines as a buffer.

When the details of the plant construction were discovered, Commissioner Jim McGuffey was outraged that the project was approved by Heard County officials without any comments from Coweta residents or officials.

But this week, company officials sought to end some of the confusion surrounding the plant.

In a statement sent to the media, officials talked about what the company would be producing at the Heard County plant.

“The plant is a `peaking plant' for producing electric power during high electricity demand periods, which will help meet power needs for heating in winter and cooling in summer,” said a written statement from Talmadge Davis, community representative for Dynegy. “The project was developed by Tenaska Inc (Tenaska), an experienced power plant developer. The Tenaska Georgia Generating Station will have a positive economic impact on the region, generating jobs and strengthening the local tax base, in addition to helping meet the peak power needs in Georgia and the Southeast,” said the statement.

Officials said the Tenaska facility is approximately one mile north of Ga. Highway 34 near the intersection of Joe Stephens and George Brown roads. It is entirely in Heard County on a site of approximately 140 acres surrounded by a buffer of trees.

“It is designed so that more than half of the site remains as natural green space. Tenaska has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to preserve 44 acres of the site as permanent wetlands and another 14 acres as permanent upland forest,” said the statement.

Officials also pointed out the facility will not be operated year-round.

“As a peaking plant, it will operate only on certain days, such as hot and humid days in summer and cold and windy days in winter, when the demand for electricity rises sharply,” the statement said.

“On such days, power companies experience high customer demand and need additional generation capacity to cover their `peak' needs. The Tenaska facility will be `on call' to produce power during these high energy, peak demand times,” said the statement from Davis.

The company also pointed out that many years of research went into the project.

Officials said more than two years of detailed work and study were done by scientists and engineers and, as part of the process, three public hearings were announced and conducted in Heard County to discuss zoning, tax status and air permitting.

The facility also was designed to meet or exceed all local, state and federal standards for protection of public health and the environment, the statement said.

Tenaska has contracted with the Heard County Water Authority for up to 500,000 gallons of water per day from its existing capacity.

The Tenaska facility must comply with all air emission and discharge requirements and regulations and has all required permits, according to Davis.

This discharge consists of processed water and storm water, which will discharge into a small tributary of Hilly Mill Creek in the Chattahoochee River basin.

“Tenaska Georgia Generating Station provides an important economic boost to the region while having minimal impact on the environment,” said the statement. “This site was chosen due to its proximity to existing transmission lines and natural gas pipelines.”

Officials said the Tenaska facility in Heard County is a $200 million-plus facility and, over its project life, is expected to result in $25 million of county property tax and millions of dollars in sales and use tax revenues. Tenaska believes strongly in good community relations, Davis said, and at the outset of the project Tenaska engaged a local community relations representative and opened an office in Franklin.

Coweta County officials are still studying the impact of the facility and considering if they should have been contacted earlier in the approval process.

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