Renovo Borough Council renews support for Renovo Energy Center proposal

RENOVO, PA – Renovo Borough Council has again gone on record in support of the Renovo Energy Center project proposed for the old railyard site on the north side of town.

A letter of support and a related resolution were approved earlier in March, under the signature of Renovo Borough Council President Ann Tarantella. The billion-dollar natural gas-to-electricity project, nearly a decade after it was first made public, is presently tied up in a state Environmental Hearing Board proceeding between environmentalists and the authorizing agency, the state Department of Environmental Resources and REC.

Renovo council has long supported the proposal and its recent letter signed by council president Tarantella restates that support:

I am writing on behalf of Renovo Borough Council to show our support for the Renovo Energy Center project that is proposed for our Industrial Park. Council has been supportive of this project from the very beginning and continues to support construction of the Renovo Energy Center.

Council members as well as myself have attended public meetings about the project in Renovo and did not face any opposition to the project at all. In fact, the Borough has had nothing but support for the project from the beginning of the proposed Renovo Energy Center. Renovo Borough Council continues to be supportive of the project through the appeals process and has not wavered in their desire to see this project to fruition. Attached to this letter is a Resolution from April 13, 2022 showing Council’s continued support of the Renovo Energy Center project.

The Renovo Energy Center project would bring a much-needed boost to the economy in the Clinton County area. The project would have hundreds of workers in and out of the area constructing the facility over a three-year period. This construction will have a positive impact on all the local economy including food establishments, the hotel industry, grocery stores, gas stations, hardware stores and other suppliers as well as providing jobs to our local workforce. After the construction of the Renovo Energy Center there would be thirty permanent jobs that will continue to provide revenue to this small rural community. The real estate taxes from this project will have a positive impact on the low-income tax base of Renovo Borough and will also positively impact Clinton County and the Keystone Central School District.

Sincerely,

Ann Tarantella, President
Renovo Borough Council

The accompanying Renovo council-passed resolution from last year contains information similar to this month’s letter from the council president. It also states the project would be “in the environmental best interest” of the Renovo area “as the project will address the contamination” of the existing/proposed site.

That resolution also said the viability of the project “has been jeopardized by three outside organizations, none of which have strong ties” to the Renovo area; a reference to Clean Air Council and two other environmental organizations which are challenging the REC plans.