At council's meeting, Oct. 13, Mark Curulla, council president, said although he did not have details on total amounts, council was aware it would have a deficit in income necessary to pay the borough's operating expenses for the remaining months of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.

Council had advertised last night's meeting for two reasons. The first was to consider several items of business proposed by Sunnyside Ethanol LLC to allow the company to begin limited construction at its plant site on the south side of Curwensville and the other was to address the financial situation of the borough.

Council was only able to authorize one of two motions affecting Sunnyside. With a majority vote, it overturned a motion made at the Oct. 13 meeting and will now permit Sunnyside to apply for a building permit before it has a state Department of Transportation approved traffic impact study. At the Oct. 13, members approved a proposal requiring Sunnyside to comply with PennDOT's conclusions about the traffic impact study before it could secure a permit to construct its ethanol manufacturing facility.

As approved on Oct. 13, council will still require Sunnyside to be in "full compliance" with PennDOT's requirements regarding the traffic study and improvements and mitigation at the intersections of state Route 879, River Street and Bloomington Avenue and Susquehanna Avenue and Schofield Street before it begins to produce ethanol.

The borough also still agrees to make applications for any grant funding that could be applied to improvements to bring the company into conformity with PennDOT's requirements and Sunnyside will be responsible to reimburse the borough for any costs or fees it incurs for applying for, obtaining or administering a grant.

Sunnyside will also be accountable for all engineering costs, legal fees and relate expenses contracted by the borough in regards to the company's compliance with PennDOT's requirements.

The second motion on the table, however, to allow the company to perform limited construction to meet the requirements of the permit issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection by pouring up to 14 footers at the site where the plant is to be built on the former Howes Leather company property, met with opposition from a council member.

Sunnyside was issued an air quality plan approval on May 17, 2007 and has until Nov. 17 to commence construction in keeping with DEP requirements or the permit will become invalid. Dan Spadoni, DEP press officer, said this morning DEP requires the company start the project within 18 months of the permit being issued or the permit would no longer be effective.

Sam Ettaro, council member, expressed his concern the company already has agreed to develop its property and build a plant adhering to stipulations set by council at previous meetings. He said to allow the company to build could be setting a precedence for other companies wanting to change the terms of their agreements with the borough.

He suggested council wait to consider the request at a future meeting when it has had time to research information he presented at last night's meeting.

He also noted information recently brought to his attention is Sunnyside may be subject to Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) approval that he said are done on a case-by-case basis.

Carol Machtel, resident, who also spoke earlier in the meeting about council's taking time to make informed decisions to improve the safety of borough residents, agreed with Mr. Ettaro.

Information on DEP's website notes MACT permits are required under the federal Clean Air Act for projects that are "major sources of air pollutants." These restraints apply to projects that will emit hazardous air pollutants at or above the law's origin levels.

In a phone interview this morning, David Aldenderfer, air quality program manager for DEP's North Central Region which oversees 14 counties including Clearfield, said Sunnyside is not subject to MACT requirements because ethanol production is not an industry that is liable to MACT requirements but the plant will be mandated to meet the commonwealth's best available technology requirements and federal best available control technologies for its emissions.

He said prior to and throughout the life of the plant, it would be subject to a number of ongoing and spot monitoring and emissions tests to ensure the stack and equipment to reduce the amount of chemical compounds into the air is working properly.

Dr. Rick Decesar, vice president for Sunnyside, said during the meeting, state and federal laws oversee the construction and operation of the plant. "DEP is regulating us. It will continue to regulate us. That (MACT) ruling is for power plants bigger than us and if we find we have to comply we will, just as we will with any DEP regulations."

Mr. Ettaro left about one hour into the meeting leaving council without a required quorum to conduct business. Prior to his departure Mr. Curulla urged him to stay. "I hope that you will not walk out because there are concerns we need to discuss. I really  hope  you  will  stay,"  he  said.

Council will hold another special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Curwensville Borough municipal building to discuss Sunnyside's request and the borough's financial situation.