A citizens group is circulating petitions protesting a proposed 272-megawatt power plant that would be fueled by waste coal in Robinson, Washington County, near the border of Allegheny and Washington counties.

The group has collected more than 500 signatures -- 300 of which are from residents in the West Allegheny School District.

Opponents say burning waste coal for electricity would damage the environment, lower property values and endanger the health and safety of children and others, while supporters say the project would clean up a toxic site, create jobs and expand waterlines.

Recently, five Robinson planning commission members and a township supervisor visited the 521-megawatt Seward generating station in Indiana County, the newest waste coal-fired plant in the state and the largest in the world. At 521 megawatts, it is twice as large as the one proposed in Robinson.

The goal was to learn how waste coal plants operate and to formulate questions for developer UGI Corp., of Valley Forge, when or if the company seeks township permission to build a plant in Robinson, planning commission secretary Judy Kramer said.

"It was very helpful as a fact-finding mission for us," Mrs. Kramer said. "But we could not make a decision on what UGI wants based entirely on what we saw at Seward."

Township officials have not commented on the project because they haven't received formal plans yet. But Robinson Supervisor Mark Kramer, Judy Kramer's husband, said he has been "approached by the property owner" about the project and "talked one night with a representative from UGI."

The plant and its related facilities, proposed by Robinson Power Co., LLC, is known as the Beech Hollow Energy Project. It would occupy about 240 acres bordered by U.S. Route 22, state Route 980 and Candor and Beech Hollow roads.

Champion Processing Inc., represented by the Ray Bologna Sr. family, owns about 800 acres in the area. The land contains the biggest pile of waste coal, also known as a gob pile, boney pile or slate dump, east of the Mississippi River, totaling about 38 million tons.

The waste coal began accumulating in 1929, as soft, black bituminous coal was taken there to be processed and cleaned by Pittsburgh Coal Co. Tons of unmarketable gob, or "garbage of bituminous," was left over.

Mr. Bologna recently said the project would clean up the site and "put it back to productive use -- commercial use."

The Beech Hollow project would dispose of the waste coal by using it to fuel a power plant. The Champion gob, plus 20 million tons of waste coal trucked in from other piles, basically would be boiled with limestone to reduce emissions of mercury and dioxins by about 80 percent, and sulfur by about 97 percent, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The resulting product would be used as fuel to generate electricity in an adjacent power plant. The Champion gob pile alone contains enough waste coal to power the plant for 17 years, producing an estimated 2.6 million megawatt hours of electricity annually, according to the DEP.

The site is within a state Keystone Opportunity Zone that would make development exempt from county, school and township taxes through 2010, according to Robinson secretary/treasurer Christine Rummell.

Supporters say the project, which would be built near historic Geary Farms, the Champion section of the Montour Trail, Quicksilver Golf Course and rural homes, would clean up at least 500,000 pounds of acidic runoff leached into the Raccoon Creek watershed each year.

But members of the group Residents Against the Power Plant (www.rapp.2truth.com) think attempts to fix that problem would cause worse problems.

Oakdale resident Cathy Donne, a member of the citizens group, said many Allegheny County schools and housing plans are located only two and five miles away from the Champion site.

Prevailing west winds could blow fly ash -- tiny, breathable, toxic particles formed when waste coal is burned -- directly into West Allegheny and beyond, Ms. Donne said.

The emissions, including arsenic, mercury, nitrogen oxides, lead and other hazardous substances, could harm the health of schoolchildren, she said, and deter people from building new, pricey homes in North Fayette, thus detracting from the tax base.

"This is a thriving area," Ms. Donne told the West Allegheny school board in September. "I don't think anybody is going to want to build a $400,000 home ... when they can look out their window and see a 400-foot smokestack."

The site is about 2.5 miles from Wilson Elementary in Findlay, three miles from West Allegheny High School in Imperial, five miles from McKee Elementary in North Fayette and 7.5 miles from the Mall at Robinson.

During a recent meeting of several RAPP members, Ford Shankle, a Robinson resident and Fort Cherry teacher, expressed concern about financial impact of the plant. "We have our life savings invested in our properties," Mr. Shankle said, "and who knows how low our property values will go."

Cathy Lodge, group co-founder who lives on a farm less than a mile from the Beech Hollow project site, has appealed an air quality permit the state Department of Environmental Protection gave Robinson Power Co. in April. The permit was issued one day before more stringent emissions standards could have been imposed.

While the Beech Hollow project has been opposed by the citizens group, it has enjoyed the support of state Rep. Victor Lescovitz, D-Midway, and state Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville. Mr. Bologna donated money to both men's campaigns last year.

Mr. Stout said the project would be "a creative way" to address the environmental problems posed by the gob pile. "There will never be enough public money to remediate that site," Mr. Stout said. "It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars."

The plant also would need water to operate, the senator said, so the project would help bring water service to Robinson residents who rely largely on well water.

Mr. Kramer said the township probably would stipulate that the plant "handle fly ash in the best way possible to provide minimum adverse effect" and not dump the ash back into the water table.

"The owner of this land must prove to me his use of that land will not damage the health and safety of my neighborhoods," Mr. Kramer said.

Members of the anti-power-plant group were most concerned about health problems associated with industrial emissions, especially mercury, which their handouts say can lead to autism in children.

Karen Dysert, a RAPP member and Robinson resident, said she's concerned about a particulate byproduct of waste coal combustion, PM 2.5. The tiny, breathable matter can stick in the lungs and cause respiratory problems.

The Trinity School District nurse opposed adding to local pollution sources, having witnessed a yearly rise in asthma cases among students. "The only thing it can be attributed to is air quality," Mrs. Dysert said.

Mr. Lescovitz said the Robinson plant would clean up the gob pile, which he called "an eyesore and an environmental problem," create some "probably decent-paying" jobs and generate power without having to burn oil or gas.