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Citing the need for more information, the MPCA Citizens' Board voted 6-1 on Tuesday to recommend that an environmental impact statement be completed on the project. The board's decision will go to an Olmsted County District Court judge for a final ruling.
More than 100 people from southeastern Minnesota attended Tuesday's hearing, which included about five hours of public testimony on whether Heartland Energy and Recycling Inc. — the business that wants to build the plant — should prepare an environmental impact statement.
The developer, Bob Maust, had no comment after the panel's decision.
Among other things, the board said it needed more information about the possibility of toxic ash and the number of vehicles that would travel through Preston to deliver tires to the plant.
Residents in southeastern Minnesota have objected to the plant, which would burn 200,000 discarded tires each week. Opponents fear the plant and its 20-story smokestack will pollute the air and water in the area.
But Maust has said the plant would bring 30 jobs or more, create electricity and chip away at the millions of tires stockpiled across the country.
During the hearing, State Rep. Andy Welti, a Democrat, urged the citizens' panel to order an environmental impact statement, saying the tire-burning technology is new and untested at full scale.
Mike Murphy, an engineer working with Heartland, said the technology has been used successfully in plants that burn different types of fuel.
Kevin Kain, who is MPCA's lead manager on the project, said the agency has done its research and an environmental impact statement was unnecessary.
But residents disagreed. Frank Wright, a Lanesboro resident who made the two hour trip to St. Paul, also said more study is warranted.
"This is not just another power plant. This is an experiment," Wright said. ``'Let's burn 10,000 tires a day for the next 10 years and see what happens.' That's how it appears to many of us.''
MPCA Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan was the only panel member to vote against recommending the environmental impact statement.
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