Ehrlich butts heads with rep

LYNN – A clash between state reps. John Keegan and Lori Ehrlich over a Salem power plant and redevelopment heated up this week even as that city?s mayor said time is ticking away on efforts to launch the plant project.Joining Mayor Kimberley Driscoll at a Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce meeting this week, Keegan said the Footprint power plant project lies at the center of a major development providing economic benefits to Salem and its neighbors.?It?s a win for everyone,” Keegan said.Ehrlich stands with environmental organizations who insist the Footprint project should be weighed with a view of its impact under pollution reduction efforts outlined in a 2008 state global warming reduction law.?Footprint is the first challenge to that law and it needs to be weighed because it sets a precedent,” Ehrlich said.Driscoll supports New Jersey-based Footprint Power?s plan to replace the harborside coal-fire power plant scheduled to close in June with a smaller natural gas facility. She told Chamber members Footprint will spend at least $50 million cleaning up the current power plant site and build a plant that will help ensure the North Shore and the region has a stable and adequate power supply.Footprint is on a tight planning and construction timeline with the end goal, Driscoll said, of meeting a 2016 date for linking into the power supply network.To stay on track, she said project planners need to place orders for plant turbines next week, or the following week at the latest.?This is a billion-dollar investment: There are going to be economic benefits across the region from that,” she said.Footprint has received local and state permits, but environmental organizations headed up by the Conservation Law Foundation say the project needs to be weighed against standards outlined in the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act.The Foundation asked a state court in November to direct Footprint?s plan to undergo a second review by state energy facility siting officials. The court schedule for the project includes a March date.Keegan says the Footprint project is important enough to attract national interest, but Ehrlich said a project of Footprint?s size and potential economic impact should be subjected to “a robust regulatory process.”?Maybe it has flaws we aren?t aware of,” she said.Keegan says he respects Ehrlich but told Chamber members it “is maddening to see denial and misinformation” about Footprint?s plans.Marblehead software and web design business owner Jane Bright attended the Lynn Chamber meeting and said she shares Ehrlich?s concerns about the power plant plan.?The bigger question is, if this is such a good idea, why can?t it stand up to a few months more of the (review) process?” Bright asked.