A judge will hear the last arguments from a group of concerned residents attempting to stop the construction of a biomass plant in Gainesville today.
Thomas Bussing, a former Gainesville mayor, is challenging the approval of the site and is motioning to intervene on an environmental basis, said Meg Sheehan, spokeswoman for the the Anti-Biomass Incineration and Forest Protection Campaign.
Construction on the proposed 100-megawatt facility, which will be located at the site of GRU's Deerhaven Generating Station, is scheduled to start in December. The plant would incinerate wood waste, most of which is currently burned in fields with no air-quality controls, to create environmentally friendly power, according to GRU's website.
However, the anti-biomass group believes the power plant would pollute the air with toxins that could cause asthma attacks and even cancer.
"Taxpayers think they're getting clean energy, but they're getting a toxic incinerator," Sheehan said.
GRU's website states that biomass is a carbon-neutral power option and that the plant releases the same amount of carbon into the atmosphere as if the wood were left to decay in the forest.
