Dear

On Monday, February 7, 2005 the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority (LIDA) Board voted to sell 55 acres in the Cumberland Valley Business Park (CVBP) to Penn-Mar Ethanol, LLC to build a plant that will produce 50 million to 60 million gallons of ethanol annually. The land is located in Greene Township, in the Keystone Opportunity Zone, a part of the land Letterkenny Army Depot gave to the community through LIDA. Penn-Mar Ethanol will not pay local or state taxes until 2011.

Penn-Mar had planned to build in Conoy Township, Lancaster County, but the ethanol plant was strongly opposed by residents there. Penn-Mar then made the decision to come Chambersburg. Luckily for Penn-Mar, LIDA was/is not aware of the dangers the plant will pose for employees in the Business Park, and residents in the neighboring communities. But fortunately for Chambersburg, the approval process at Greene Township and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has not yet begun, so there is time to prevent this plant from locating in our community.

Ø The toxic emissions that could escape from the plant are so dangerous that there will be an immediate evacuation plan for the area within 2.5 miles of the plant.[1]

Ø The plant will to store 8,000 pounds of ammonia, 7,000 gallons of sulfuric acid, 75,000 gallons of gasoline and as much as 1.8 million gallons of ethanol, according to a February 7, 2005 Public Opinion article. A fire or other disaster could bring a high death toll.

Ø Ethanol plants emit a foul and offensive odor that carries miles from the plant.

Ø 2/3 of the corn used would come from the Midwest and Penn-Mar's partnership of 13 farmers from central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland will likely supply the rest - local farmers may not benefit, but could see the price of their corn decrease due to large amounts of "imported" grain.

Ø Large amounts of volatile products will be transported to and from the plant over our roads and through our communities.

· "The technology is great for production of ethanol, [but] does nothing to protect citizens from their emissions."

· "Symptoms were burning eyes, lungs, and throat, you'd get headaches, cramps in your sides and feel nauseous."

· "These plants smell and...might prevent clean businesses from joining the community."

· "When it hits here, it's like my throat slams shut" resident 2 miles from the ethanol plant in Preston, Minnesota.

· "It made some of the kids sick, so we'd have to close up the windows to keep the smell from blowing into the classroom,"

This plant will be larger than some of the most polluting ethanol factories already built in the Midwest. The Cumberland Valley, with mountains to the East and West, will not allow the emissions from this plant to simply blow away. The emissions will sit in the Valley on hot hazy summer days and be held here by heavy cold air in the winter. The U.S. Army has spent over $100,900,000 to clean up contamination at Letterkenny Army Depot. Now, LIDA is bringing in companies that can re-contaminate that land AND generate noxious odors, hazardous vapors, yellow dust, and noise that will reach out to touch us miles from the site.

Citizens for a Quality Environment and our community are committed to preventing this undesirable plant from locating in the Cumberland Valley Business Park. We have just begun the process of informing our neighbors, businesses in and around CVBP, elected officials, the LIDA Board members,[2] about the hazards, the degradation of the quality of life, the decrease in the value of all of our properties (both residential and commercial), and the proven dangers to our health that this plant would bring to the area.

Articles and information providing some background on ethanol plants, and the dangers and air pollution problems that they have brought to other communities are available at Citizens for a Quality Environment’s website at www.C4aQE.org .

On behalf of myself, and all the residents and business owners in the area of the proposed Penn-Mar site, I ask you to carefully research the problems with the proposed Penn-Mar ethanol plant, and take all possible steps to protect the health and property of area employees and residents, and prevent a decline in property values. We hope you will work to prevent this type of dangerous and unhealthy development in Franklin County.

Sincerely,

[1] “Incidents” do happen, and are not rare for ethanol plants. Articles available at http://www.C4aQEorg are a few examples they gathered just in the last few days. So this in not an evacuation plan for an unlikely natural disaster in our area—it is one the evidence shows we will use. We are especially concerned with the elderly, children home alone, or at school, and up to 400 prisoners locked up within the maximum danger zone at the future prison.

[2] The LIDA staff and Board members are apparently woefully unaware of the history and dangers of ethanol plants. Their cart-before-the-horse approach of visiting other ethanol plants and doing their homework after signing the Agreement of Sale is irresponsible. How can they expect to locate desirable industries or businesses in CVBP, near operations known to pollute and create environmental, fire, and explosion hazards? Their last fiasco, Warrior Roofing, has generated numerous air quality violations from PADEP, and complaints from residents and business owners up to 3 miles from CVBP.