Jun. 10--Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and Oregon Mayor Marge Brown yesterday reaffirmed their support for the proposed FDS coking facility and co-generation power plant on the East Toledo-Oregon border.

Mr. Finkbeiner opened a news conference on the proposed site by referencing a Blade article about the project yesterday. The story quoted a spokesman for FDS Coke Plant LLC that the project will be dead unless investors see movement by June 26 on an appeal before an independent state board called the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission.

The appeal was filed in 2004 by the village of Harbor View and the Sierra Club. Both have raised concerns about the project's environmental impact.

Harbor View and the Sierra Club also have challenged whether current and past Ohio EPA directors Chris Korleski and Joe Koncelik had the authority to modify the permit before the state appeals board had issued a ruling.

FDS claims both challenges have no merit, but said it has grown weary of delays.

But records show FDS has delayed the process itself by obtaining two consecutive 30-day extensions from the appeals commission over the protective-order dispute.

"I have no problem saying we'd like FDS to pick up the pace too," Mr. Finkbeiner said.

The group has identified June 26 as a possible date for scrapping the project because that is when it is scheduled to make a $200,000 payment to the Midwest Independent System Operator Inc. for electricity generated from the coking operation's surplus steam. The latter operates the region's power grid.

If FDS is not satisfied progress is being made on the appeal, it will skip the payment and look elsewhere to build, Lance Traves, FDS project manager and environmental consultant, told The Blade.

The project is expected to cost $800 million to $1 billion. Some 150 permanent jobs are expected to be created, as well as up to 2,000 temporary construction jobs.

"This $800 million project is a major investment for our community," Mr. Finkbeiner said.

Said Ms. Brown: "We're going to die in this area if we don't get jobs."

The project would be built on a 51-acre tract of Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority land along western Lake Erie's Maumee Bay.

Gov. Ted Strickland continues to support the FDS project and "wants to speed it along," although he recognizes the independent nature of the appeals commission, according to Amanda Wurst, a spokesman for the governor's office.

"The governor's hopeful that ERAC will complete its process soon so the project can move forward," she said.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079.

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