Staff photo / David Skolnick ... State Rep. Jeff Crossman, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, speaks against the proposed FirstEnergy downtown power line project outside the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre. With him are, from left, state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, 1st Ward Councilman Julius Oliver and Robert Hagan, who is running for a state Senate seat.

YOUNGSTOWN — State Rep. Jeff Crossman, a nonvoting member of the Ohio Power Siting Board and the Democratic nominee for attorney general, said he opposes FirstEnergy’s proposed high-tension power line project that would run through downtown Youngstown and that he would work to convince other members not to support it.

“We don’t want (downtown) ruined by a project that hasn’t been well thought out or hasn’t had community input like it should,” Crossman said during a Friday news conference outside the gates of the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

The proposed 138-kilovolt transmission lines would connect the Lincoln Park and Riverbend substations, about 6 miles apart, and expand the Lincoln Park facility on the city’s East Side for a new 138-kv terminal.

The lines would be parallel to the north side of the Mahoning River, going behind the amphitheatre, through Wean Park, over the Market Street Bridge and behind the Covelli Centre.

The Ohio Power Siting Board will determine if the project moves forward. It has 11 total members with seven of them having voting power. Crossman, D-Parma, is a nonvoting member.

He said the proposal could be up for board consideration as soon as next month.

“The people don’t support this project, and you need to listen to the community,” Crossman said.

He added: “I’m the only power siting board member to put eyes on this project. That’s valuable insight to other members.”

Crossman said the board members aren’t aware of how this project would damage downtown.

“I’m going to ask the power siting board to push FirstEnergy to go back to the drawing board and work with the community,” he said.

VIEWPOINTS

At a meeting last week, about 100 local business owners, residents and community activists said they opposed the project’s possible location with some suggesting the lines be buried underground.

Brittany Al Dawood, a FirstEnergy spokeswoman, couldn’t be reached Friday to comment.

But she said last week that the project would provide safer and more reliable power to Youngstown as well as minimize the number and duration of power interruptions by strengthening the power grid.

She also said last week that FirstEnergy wants to put the lines as close as possible to the tree line and railroad tracks along the river “to minimize the impact to the amphitheater.”

FirstEnergy is not planning to put the lines underground.

COVELLI CENTRE

Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group — which manages the Covelli Centre, amphitheater and park for the city — said Friday that a high-tension power line “20 feet behind an amphitheater through a community park that was just built” would “be devastating” to his business and downtown.

The center cost $45 million to build and an additional $10 million went to the amphitheater and park, he said.

“It might be the right project, but it is absolutely the wrong location,” Ryan said.

Ryan added that his company is working on the “single biggest event that has ever and will ever come to Youngstown, tens of thousands of people over a weekend” at Wean Park and the FirstEnergy project will either kill it or make it a one-time event. Ryan declined to disclose other information about the event except to say it is planned for the summer.

Crossman and state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown, also criticized FirstEnergy for its role in a bribery scheme to get legislation passed that included a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear power plants owned by a subsidiary of the company in exchange for $61 million. FirstEnergy agreed to pay a $230 million fine.

“I know we don’t want to see new scandals arise because FirstEnergy and their crooked allies in Columbus rush through another project without considering the perspective of the community,” Crossman said.

“Let me be clear: FirstEnergy cannot be trusted,” Lepore-Hagan said.

dskolnick@vindy.com