Company gains more support for Indiana power plant

Several officials of a central Indiana town where a $500 million power plant has been proposed say they were impressed with another of the company's plants during a trip to Texas.

Many residents in the Shelby County town of Morristown are fighting the proposal from Nebraska-based Tenaska to build the natural gas-fueled plant, saying they're worried about its possible impact on water-well levels, air quality and added noise.

Town and county officials who made the company-paid trip told Morristown Chamber of Commerce members on Tuesday that the Texas plant was quiet and local leaders there had no complaints about it, The Daily Reporter and The Shelbyville News reported.

"It is not a noise rattler," Morristown Councilman Larry Tracy said. "If they set up, we'll hardly know they're here."

The trip by the officials came two weeks after dozens of people attended a town council meeting to speak out against Tenaska's proposal for the 1,200-person town about 20 miles east of Indianapolis. Many residents protested before the meeting with signs saying, "Stop Tenaska."

Helen Manroe, a development director for Tenaska, said the company hasn't decided whether to build the plant and that construction was unlikely to begin before 2016.

"Just because we're developing a site, doesn't mean it's going to happen," Manroe said.