A version of this story first appeared in the Post-Gazette's West edition.

Representatives of Robinson Power Co. LLC will meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow with the planning commission in Robinson Township, Washington County, to discuss the requirements, procedures and scheduling of meetings needed to present development plans for its Beech Hollow Energy Project.

The meeting will be held in the township building, 8400 Noblestown Road, just west of McDonald.

Community input and proposal details will be saved for a public hearing, possibly in April. No public comment or questions will be accepted tomorrow.

The 300-megawatt power plant, fueled by waste coal, and its related facilities is proposed for about 240 acres bordered by U.S. Route 22, State Route 980 and Candor and Beech Hollow roads near the North Fayette border.

The power plant project had been delayed nearly a year by an appeal that challenged a decision by the state Department of Environmental Protection to issue an air-quality permit to the Robinson Power project in April. But a settlement reached last month meant Robinson Power could proceed.

George M. Lucchino, chairman of the township supervisors, said Robinson Power's legal counsel asked to meet with the planning commission to discuss the requirements, procedures and scheduling of meetings needed to present development plans for the Beech Hollow Energy Project.

Champion Processing Inc., represented by the Ray Bologna Sr. family, owns about 800 acres in the area. The land contains about 38 million tons of waste coal, which, along with 20 million tons trucked in from other piles, could be burned for about 25 years to produce an estimated 2.6 million megawatt hours of electricity annually, according to the DEP.

"This project would have been built if we didn't have the appeal," said Mr. Bologna, an agent for Robinson Power. "We have to get started."

Mr. Bologna hoped to begin construction in the fall and have the plant up and running by 2010.

He said engineering work still needed to be done, and he was in the process of securing financial backing and a developer for the project. Previously interested developer UGI Corp., of Valley Forge, walked away because of the appeal, he said.

Robinson resident Cathy Lodge, who had initiated the appeal, said she settled because she did not have enough money to go to court. But she planned to continue with Residents Against the Power Plant, a citizens group that opposes the project largely on the basis of the potential health dangers of environmental pollution.

About 650 residents of the West Allegheny, Fort Cherry and Mt. Lebanon school districts have signed the group's petitions against the plant, Mrs. Lodge said.

"We're not stopping now," Mrs. Lodge said. "We're still trying to educate the community."

Mr. Bologna said Robinson Power's attorney will approach the planning commission to apply for a conditional use permit, which would be required to build and operate the power plant, and to request a public hearing.

The attorney would present packages of information tomorrow to commission members so they could prepare for the future hearing and devise any questions, Mr. Bologna said.

Township law calls for the planning commission, an advisory board, to schedule and hold public hearings, consider conditional use applications and make recommendations to the three-member board of supervisors, who decide on final conditions and approvals.

Gerald Runtas, vice chairman of the supervisors, said details of the proposal and comments from the public would be reserved for the public hearing, instead of tomorrow's planning commission meeting. The commission would schedule the public hearing for sometime in the next month or so, he said, and the hearing date would be advertised.

The meeting might be held in a Fort Cherry school building to accommodate a larger-than-usual crowd, he said.

Mrs. Lodge, who owns a farm less than a mile from the proposed power plant, initiated the appeal last May. The Pittsburgh nonprofit Group Against Smog and Pollution Inc., an environmental advocacy group focusing on air quality, later joined her in the appeal.

In early February, each party settled separately with both Robinson Power and the state DEP.

An administrative law judge working in conjunction with the DEP's five-member Environmental Hearing Board had been set to hear the case in March, Mrs. Lodge said.

But Mrs. Lodge could not afford to pay the $20,000 to $50,000 needed to hire expert witnesses to review the case and testify on her behalf, said attorney Deanna Tanner, of the Philadelphia law firm Villari, Brandes & Kline.

"That's a lot of money for an individual citizen to bear," Ms. Tanner said. "She really wanted to go forward, but she wasn't able to."

The settlement terms between Mrs. Lodge and Robinson Power included an undisclosed amount of money that could help Mrs. Lodge's family move away if the power plant were built, the attorney said.

"She had to withdraw her appeal, which was the stopgap for this power plant being built," Ms. Tanner said. But Mrs. Lodge retained her rights to oppose or complain about other aspects of the project, she said.

Mrs. Lodge said the settlement was not a payoff. "I don't want it to be misinterpreted," she said. "I don't want it to look like I'm simply out for money."

The settlement between the DEP and Mrs. Lodge involved some procedural changes for handling public notification and project reviews, Mrs. Lodge said.

A settlement between Robinson Power and the Group Against Smog and Pollution involved the power company paying the environmental group $50,000 to $100,000 over the next five years to reduce air pollution in Allegheny and Washington counties, according to William Luneburg, of Pittsburgh, the group's attorney.

"Because of the agreement, less particulate matter will be in the air than otherwise would be in the air," Mr. Luneburg said.

Particulate matter is a by-product of waste coal combustion. The tiny, breathable substance can stick in the lungs and cause respiratory problems.

The settlement between GASP and the DEP involved improving the public hearing process and changing procedures that would ensure certain federal officials who are charged with environmental protection are advised on the potential environmental impacts of projects like the power plant.