Mars residents, council speak on power station expansion
MARS – Residents of the borough, along with council members, raised concerns about the expansion of a FirstEnergy power station on Clay Avenue at a Mars Borough Council meeting Monday night.
Lavaughn Molnar, a Mars resident who lives near the plant, attended the meeting with two of her neighbors. She said that expansions and construction began after Labor Day at the plant and have continued since.
Citing concerns about safety living close to a power plant, she added that she was worried the expansion would affect the value of her and her neighbors’ property.
“When I bought my house, the Realtor looked into all that. Due to the size of the power plant, we were safe. (The expansion) just took the value of my house down a lot,” Molnar said.
Molnar added that the humming sound from the power station has increased, but that she was told it was due to temporary generator use.
Borough council president Mike Fleming said the board was not informed of the scope of the plant’s expansion, and said he wanted to meet with FirstEnergy to get further information.
According to Fleming, the company asked for a permit to run high-transmission lines through the borough, but the borough does not know how much FirstEnergy plans to expand the plant.
“What they’re pulling off down there is not good. It’s not good for anybody who lives in that area, it’s not good for anybody’s property value in that area,” Fleming said. “If that thing is going to hum 24-7, who’s going to want to live across from that?”
Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung said he, the police, and public works departments were notified that FirstEnergy planned to work on the plant in order to make sure the power grid kept up with growth in the Mars region.
“The reason for the work was because of the growth of the area, this was overdue for being upgraded. They see it as an upgrade, not a rebuild,” Hartung said. “We never got an accurate scope.”
Fleming said he hopes to meet with the company, along with solicitor Chris Reese and Hartung, due to concerns about the long-term impact of the plant.
“I don’t know what we can do, but I am going to assure you we are going to try to do something,” he said. “It’s a significant change on all fronts at that location, from what it appears, and we just need to get clarity of exactly what is changing.”
