Nearly 300 residents from Fayette

and south Fulton counties Saturday night voiced their opposition to a

proposed power plant in their backyard.

The meeting, at Atlanta City

Church on Old Jonesboro Road, Union City, at times resembled an old fashioned

church service with fire and brimstone pouring from residents' mouths.

Dan Skizim, project director

for the Fulton Energy Center, took the full frontal assault from residents

who want the power plant to be built somewhere else.

The 1,230-megawatt facility

is slated for Peters Road, just off Ga. Highway 92, in south Fulton on

land bordering north Fayette.

Skizim said the plant, to be

owned by Williams Company, would bring nearly 800 jobs to Fulton during

the construction phase and 30-40 full-time, high-paying jobs when the

plant is operational.

The facility also would generate

nearly $1 million in tax revenues to Fulton County every year, he said.

Most of the residents were

more concerned with noise and air pollution from the plant than expected

tax revenues.

One of the more vocal spectators

was Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn.

Dunn told Skizim that he would

have had to provide far more information if he had considered building

the plant in Fayette.

"If not, you would have

been escorted out of my meeting," he said.

Dunn was also concerned when

Skizim said the "prevailing winds" would possibly push any air

pollution toward Henry County.

"All of us who live here

know the prevailing winds are coming through our county first," Dunn

said.

Under questioning from Dunn,

Skizim said the plant would produce a maximum of 500 tons of air pollution

a year.

Because Atlanta doesn't meet

federal air quality standards, the company would be required to mitigate

that pollution by reducing pollution somewhere else, and Skizim said the

firm's plan is to improve its facility in Stockbridge to make up for pollution

generated by the new plant.

"If you do a mitigation

plan it will be 30 to 40 miles away from where the pollution is being

created," Dunn said. "Is that not a concern for us?"

"Air pollution is a regional

problem," said Skizim. "The air is just swirling around everywhere

in the atmosphere. It doesn't recognize political jurisdictions.

"This is going to hurt

our quality of life," Dunn said.

Resident after resident questioned

Skizim on how much noise the plant would generate.

While he could not provide

a decibel rating, he did say that the turbine engines would be enclosed

and the building would be enclosed, which is something that's not usually

done in the South.

"Because of the climate,

buildings are usually just left open without walls," he said.

Skizim said the company is

studying the noise level and will present all the information to Fulton

County officials when the studies are complete.

He did say the engines are

roughly the size of two rail cars and there would be four engines in the

plant.

Skizim also tried to deflect

residents' concerns about the safety factor by saying there will be nothing

at the facility that could explode.

Many residents were angry that

Skizim could not quantify how much pollution or noise the facility would

generate.

Skizim said the facility would

be state-of-the-art and added the company plans to donate at least 50

percent of the tract for green space.

"This is permanent green

space for whatever the community wants," he said.

But two Coweta County residents

who live near the just-completed Dynergy power plant in Heard County urged

the residents to fight.

"They'll promise you everything,

but it's not what they say it's going to be," said Connie Olson.

The residents pummeled Skizim

with questions for more than an hour. When the meeting ended, Skizim promised

more meetings, adding that the permitting process is expected to take

a year.

Williams officials are expected

to apply to rezone the tract from residential to industrial this week

with Fulton County. The Fulton Commission probably won't vote on the issue

until after Labor Day.

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