Letter to the Editor

(Editor-s note: this letter to the Renovo Energy Center was also submitted to The Record for insertion as a Letter to the Editor)
Dear Rick,
Since 1946, the Renovo Community Trade Association has been a viable advocate in promoting, developing and maintaining local businesses and industries while soliciting new enterprises to relocate in the Renovo area and provide additional employment opportunities for its residents.

Our Board of Directors (total membership) is comprised of representatives from local, township, county and state governmental bodies and agencies, as well as, area businesses, industries, civic organizations and individual citizens. This diversity of personnel has encouraged sincere discussions on a variety of items and helped to coordinate the planning of activities related to our mission statement for economic development.

Two unrelated events have had a major impact on our community. First, formation of Conrail from the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads caused an enormous decline in the local workforce when the employees in the Renovo Shops had their jobs abolished or they were furloughed or transferred to another railroad facility. Second, the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Agnes to business establishments and personal property and dwellings has led to the removal of a large amount of real estate from Renovo’s tax rolls. With a major employer gone, a limited amount of housing available and a substantial decline in the area population, the outlook for Renovo’s future and its existence seemed bleak.

However, this scenario changed when representatives of the Renovo Borough Council, the Renovo Community Trade Association and the Clinton County Economic Partnership met with officials of the Bechtel Corporation in 2014 and discussed the possibility of constructing the Renovo Energy Center. For the first time in decades, the participants at this meeting came away with a “glimmer of hope” and “a bright light at the end of a long tunnel”.

If the Renovo Energy Center would come to fruition, it could reverse our community’s downward spiral of economic stagnation.

We believe that the Renovo Energy Center will be highly beneficial to Renovo and surrounding municipalities in a variety of ways: 1) During the initial construction phase of the project, the influx of the various craftsmen and their equipment would require a large number of services, which could help boost the local economy; 2) Upon completion, there would still be a need for ancillary services to insure plant’s operation and maintenance and; 3) The Renovo Energy Center would generate new tax revenue for the Renovo Borough, Clinton County and the Keystone Central School District and have both a direct and indirect effect on all residents of Western Clinton County.

Although there has been opposition to the Renovo Energy Center, it’s being generated by a very limited number of discontents from outside our geographical area with no connections to our community. A vast majority of local residents, who have contacted and talked to our members, have expressed a positive attitude and outlook for the facility.

We recognize your commitment to the Renovo Energy Center and the amount of time and effort you have expended to get the various applications and permits approved for our community’s benefit. Our association, wholeheartedly, endorses the Renovo Energy Center project and stands as a staunch advocate for its completion.
Sincerely yours,

Tim Reeves
Community Trade Association President