Despite the impending layoff of 184 blade production employees, Gamesa Inc. will install new equipment at its Falls plant as it moves forward with other areas of production. ...The DEP discovered several violations at the plant and Gamesa was forced to pay $639,161 in state penalties. A compliance consent order was issued to ensure the installation of the oxidizer.

Despite the impending layoff of 184 blade production employees, Gamesa Inc. will install new equipment at its Falls plant as it moves forward with other areas of production.

Falls Supervisors Robert Harvie, Jim Prokopiak and Jonathan Snipes approved a land development waiver Tuesday to allow the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer to install a 1,440-square-foot concrete pad, which will serve as a base for a regenerative thermal oxidizer. Philip Szupka voted no and Dorothy Vislosky abstained.

Szupka and Vislosky did not give detailed reasoning behind their votes but have expressed opposition to most projects dealing with the Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone where Gamesa is located.

According to Darius Rogers, head of Gamesa's environmental department, the oxidizer will destroy about 50 percent of the volatile organic compounds emitted from the facility.

The installation of the equipment is the result of a negotiated settlement agreement between Gamesa and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that was signed in August.

The DEP discovered several violations at the plant and Gamesa was forced to pay $639,161 in state penalties. A compliance consent order was issued to ensure the installation of the oxidizer.

"We are complying with the federal government on schedule," Rogers said.

Rogers did not know the exact cost of the equipment but said it could run anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million.

Prokopiak said this move was a good sign, indicating that the company intends to operate in Falls. Thomas Hecker, attorney for Gamesa, said the company will consolidate its blade manufacturing with another location. The Falls plant will focus on producing engine housings, called nacelles.

Vislosky, however, was skeptical of Gamesa's intentions.

"Even if you invested $1 billion here, we still haven't seen a dime in tax dollars," she said. "So basically, you polluted and got caught. I don't believe anything that Gamesa says."

Gamesa was established in 2006 in the KOIZ, a tax-free zone meant to encourage redevelopment.

Prokopiak said the several hundred jobs that the company created since it came to Falls, along with costly permit fees, has made it an asset to the community.

He estimates that the total amount of permit fees paid by Gamesa at close to $800,000.

"If they didn't come to the KOIZ," he added, "that location would be a ghost town."

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