The other day, I received a mailing, as I'm sure most Franklin County residents did. It was from Rep. (Bill) Shuster. Contained in it were reports of all the positives that Letterkenny has received since this last BRAC, including an increase in the number of jobs.

However, I'm a little hesitant in expecting the growth of Letterkenny to continue.

I'm referring to the recent development of the prospective Penn Mar ethanol plant. Granted, there has been a stay placed on the proceedings of the plant, referencing the Sept. 19 hearing in Franklin County Court, and with the Greene Township supervisors denying application of permit for building, all would seem well and good.

I think my main concern is with the future of Letterkenny, as far as continuing to plan for the future because of "long-term issues" that concern the deputy commander of Letterkenny, in the event that the ethanol facility was to be built. (source: Public Opinion, Sept. 20)

In the hearing held Sept. 19, the deputy commander had several concerns:

1) Evacuation procedures — None had been discussed as far as he knew. If an accident or leak should occur at the facility, 95% to 98% of Letterkenny's 2,800 employees work within a 2.5-mile radius of the plant and the shops are accessed through a single gate. Letterkenny Fire Department responds to fires on depot and wouldn't be available for an accident at the plant. As stated by the deputy commander, "We are not trained for that."

2). Rail tankers would transport the ethanol and trucks would pass within 75 feet of Letterkenny shops. The rail tracks in the business park have had four derailments since 1999.

(3). There, at any one time, could be as much as 2 million pounds of ammunition located at a rail yard within 75 feet of the proposed ethanol plant, indicating a very close encounter and threat of volatility. "They're ready to go bang?" questioned Attorney (Fred) Antoun at the hearing, Sept. 19. "Pretty much," the deputy commander for Letterkenny said.

All this information should make many of you in this county scratch your heads and wonder why. Why do we want to invest in a potentially volatile plant producing only a count of 35 jobs when we already have the largest employer in Franklin County established with the potential of bringing hundreds more prospective jobs?

That is why each of you in Franklin County should be writing or calling Rep. Shuster and telling him of the concerns of the citizens but also of the concerns of our largest employer, of whom he helped represent at the last BRAC.

Call Rep. Shuster at the Chambersburg office, 264-8308, or fax at 264-0269. If no one gets on board about this critical issue, we may become the county with the highest unemployment rate, rather than the lowest!

Mary Burkholder is a resident of Chambersburg.

Originally published January 3, 2006

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