“How will the Lackawanna Energy Center change my community?” That’s a question on the minds of many Jessup residents. Jessup may not have experience with a clean energy facility like that proposed by Invenergy, but other Pennsylvania communities have.
John Callahan, the former mayor of Bethlehem, was on the city council of the famous steel town when a similar facility was proposed. As he recalls, early concerns about the impacts of such a plant were quickly dispelled:
“I was actually on city council in 2003 when the plant was first proposed,” says Callahan. “The community was concerned about property values going down. In fact, they’ve gone up. The noise is almost imperceptible, even for the neighbors that live within 100 yards of the plant. People don’t even know that it’s there. Any of the negative concerns that we had going in … none of those have happened. Bethlehem didn’t fall, sort of, victim of fear and not wanting to embrace the future, and Jessup can do the same.”
According to John Callahan, the negative concerns originally raised about the new power plant were unfounded. The plant actually increased property values in the community. Today, many individuals don’t even realize the power plant is there at all.
One change is for sure … the Lackawanna Energy Center will create jobs for Jessup residents. It will employ over 600 individuals during its construction phase, and 30 full time employees once the facility is operational. This eliminates the need for residents to move out of the area in search of employment. Instead they can stay and contribute to its future growth. Simply put, the future of the Jessup community is brighter with the opportunities created by the Lackawanna Energy Center.
This economic growth, combined with the fact that the new natural gas power plant will displace aged, dirty coal plants makes the Lackawanna Energy Center a valuable contributor to a stronger, cleaner Jessup. To find out more about this new economic opportunity and advancing cleaner energy in Pennsylvania, join below.