TEXAS COMPANY DECIDES AGAINST BUILDING POWER PLANT IN BOLLINGER COUNTY

MARBLE HILL -- A Texas company has decided to erect a peak-power plant in Audrain County rather than Bollinger County.

But the company, Duke Energy North America of Houston, Texas, still holds a three-year option on 63 acres of land eight miles east of Marble Hill along Highway 34. The site is near a natural-gas pipeline and major electrical transmission lines.

"I think they will be back here," said Bollinger County Commissioner Robert Gray. "It's just kind of temporarily on hold."

Gray said the site is too valuable not to attract some future development. "Somebody is going to use the spot sooner or later," he said.

Duke Energy had been negotiating with both counties to pay money in lieu of real estate or personal property taxes.

The Bollinger County Commission had been seeking payments of around $500,000 a year for 20 years, as originally suggested by the company.

In the end, Duke Energy struck a deal with Audrain County officials to make payments of $350,000 a year.

Duke Energy plans to break ground on two new power plants next June, with completion slated for June 2001.

The plants would generate peak-power, fueled by natural-gas-powered turbines.

The Bollinger County site would have had eight turbines that would operate 2,500 hours a year at most. It takes only 20 minutes to fire up the turbines, company officials have said.

The project could have provided 200 to 300 construction jobs in Bollinger County during the yearlong project.

Kate Perez, manager of public affairs for the company, said last month that the project wouldn't require the county to build new roads or schools. The plant itself would have employed a maximum of 10 people, and only two to four people when it wasn't generating power.

There are 1,400 peak power plants in the United States. Duke Energy currently operates five plants in Connecticut and California, and has another five under construction in Ohio, Indiana, Maine, Texas and Arizona.

Duke Energy Corp., headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is the parent company of Duke Energy North America. The parent company has more than $29 billion in assets and operates in more than 50 countries. It produces, transports and markets energy.