A judge won't rule until next year on the fate of a proposed tires-to-energy plant in western Pennsylvania.
Thomas Renwand of the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board this week extended deadlines for submitting evidence about the proposed plant until January 18, and motions in the case until February 1.
Crawford Renewable Energy plans to build the $350 million plant in the Keystone Regional Industrial Park outside Meadville. It would burn about 900 tons of chopped-up waste tires daily to produce enough electricity for about 75,000 homes.
The Erie Times-News reports Renwand will then decide whether state regulators acted properly in October 2011 in approving the plant's air quality plan.
Two neighbors challenged that approval, claiming the plant will produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, mercury and arsenic.
The proposed tire-burning plant would be the first of its kind in Pennsylvania history.
