Hillsborough officials are hailing word that a power plant proposed for Amwell Road will not go forward.
A spokeswoman for Bob Place, president of Genesis Power, LLC, issued a statement Monday morning that said, “Genesis Power, LLC, will not continue pursuing plans to build Amwell Energy Center in Hillsborough.”
The spokeswoman said neither she nor Mr. Place would make further comments.
Mr. Place said, “The project plans, in their earliest stages, called for the construction of a combined-cycle electric generating facility that would have used about 10 to 15 percent of a 423-acre parcel of land that currently houses three interstate gas pipelines and multiple electric transmission lines.”
The company applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for a delineation of wetlands versus buildable land. It was seen as the first step toward an actual planning application with the township.
The site is between Hamilton and Amwell roads, opposite Woods Road.
Township officials released a statement in which Mayor Frank DelCore said, “Simply put, today is a great day for Hillsborough.”
The release said Genesis Power, LLC, which the township said was proposing to construct a 640-megawatt natural gas power plant in Hillsborough Township, “will abandon its plans following local government’s opposition to their project.”
The state Sierra Club also publicly opposed the project. In a mid-January statement, Jeff Tittel, executive director of the state Sierra Club, said the plant “will cause a tremendous amount of air pollution in the region, not only from the plant, but from pipelines in the area.”
He said the site contains important wetlands and the citizens’ environmental organization was concerned “about its impact to the D&R Canal greenway and drinking source for over one million people.”
On Tuesday, the club released a statement that called the withdrawal as “a big victory for clean air, clean energy, and the environment. We are glad Genesis has withdrawn its plan for a damaging power plant in Hillsborough. This plant was the wrong plant, in the wrong place that would have had tremendous environmental impacts," said Mr. Tittel.
He said Genesis would have built an at least a 200-foot smokestack in a scenic and rural area, which steam from its cooling towers contained a lot of chemicals impacting public health.
Mayor DelCore said, “The Amwell Energy Center had the potential to significantly alter Hillsborough’s bucolic nature and rural appeal while providing minimal ratables and long-term job growth.”
Committeeman Douglas Tomson, who was mayor in 2015 when the proposal was first announced by the developer said, “The Township Committee made a promise to the residents that we were going to look at this project from all angles and ensure we do what is right for all residents of Hillsborough. With today’s announcement, that happened. I want to commend Mayor DelCore for his leadership on this issue.”
Mayor DelCore added: “The Township Committee in Hillsborough has made a promise to protect environmentally sensitive areas in town with over 30 percent of Hillsborough off limits to developers. My commitment to the residents of Hillsborough has been and will always be to ensure that we remain one of the best towns in America.
“Thank you to all of the residents and professionals who we have spoken with over the last two months as we all worked to protect our township.”
