Martins Creek Harwood

“Located at no specific address but at coordinates 40°56'07.0"N 76°01'42.4"W, this former fuel oil peaker plant located southwest of Hazelton, PA, retired in 2022 and has a retired capacity of 32 MW (see Figure 29 and Table 18). The cleared land looks to have been purchased by a private company and is being used by a truck and repair service, but the adjacent parcel contains a PPL substation and has available land. The site has been decommissioned, but its remediation status is unknown. The 27-acre site is located along Interstate 81. It and 12.7 adjacent acres are zoned for commercial activity and rated as intermediately rugged. The site is not classified as a potential brownfield, and there is no known soil or groundwater contamination. FEMA designates the site as having a relatively low natural hazard risk and minimal flooding risk. The parcel and nearby parcels are located within or adjacent to a confirmed underground mining area and are, therefore, considered to have elevated mine subsidence potential. Rail access is ~1 mile away; it sits by a major road, and it is ~11 miles from river access. Transmission lines, a substation, and a natural gas pipeline are all within 1 mile of the site. The nearest broadband installation is ~10 miles away. The nearest generator is ~1 mile away. The site sits on the Marcellus shale formation. The nearest wastewater treatment plant is ~2.5 miles away, and the nearest brownfield is ~2 miles away. There are ~678,147 people within 30 miles of the site.”

PATER Part A report, section 4.13, page 47

Report name

Martins Creek LLC Harwood (PA)

Address

No street address in the report

Coordinates

40°56'07.0"N 76°01'42.4"W

Fuel

Distillate Fuel Oil

Zoning

Commercial

Ruggedness

3 = Intermediately rugged

Brownfield designation

Not Presumptive

On-site contamination

None known

Groundwater contamination

None known

FEMA natural hazards risk

Relatively low

FEMA flood hazard

Minimal

Population within 30 miles

About 678,147 (report estimate)

PJM transmission zone

PPL

Evaluated for

New generation

The report places sites in the PPL transmission zone in its generation category, because projected load growth there exceeds expected generation additions (pages 76 and 77).

Current status

Part A candidate. Part B will narrow the 21 sites to 5 to 7 priorities.

Next step

Part B will rank the sites and validate the top 5 to 7 through site visits (page 103).

Public comment

Written comments on Part A are accepted under PUC Docket No. M-2026-3059601 through October 14, 2026.

Review meetings

The report says PATER Study Review Meetings are planned for October and February (page 103).