The company proposing to build a power plant fueled by waste coal in Robinson Township, Washington County, submitted materials related to the project Friday.

But the township planning commission, which convened Monday night, won't consider the information until it is reviewed by the township's consultants, HMT & Associates Inc., a civil and environmental engineering and surveying firm in Canonsburg, and Olsen Engineering & Associates, of Butler.

Vice Chairman Luke Darragh read a statement about Robinson Power Co. and its proposed Beech Hollow Energy Project. Mr. Darragh said the project was of regional significance and would be reviewed as such. Then he adjourned the meeting.

Robinson Power's attorney, Raymond J. Hoehler, of Cohen & Grigsby, attempted to submit further materials to the commission, including a conceptual drawing of the project. But Mr. Darragh refused and reiterated that the meeting was over.

About 35 people attended the meeting, which Robinson Power's legal counsel requested to discuss the requirements, procedures and scheduling of meetings necessary to present development plans for the project.

The development is expected to include a 300-megawatt electricity plant fueled by waste coal; a fly ash dump and other related facilities on about 240 acres bordered by Route 22, Route 980 and Candor and Beech Hollow roads, near the North Fayette border.

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 state Department of Environmental Protection.

Mr. Bologna said recently that Robinson Power's attorney would apply for a conditional use permit and request a public hearing. The permit would be required to build and operate the power plant.

Planning commissioners said they recently toured a fly ash dump in Armagh, Indiana County, near Johnstown, to learn how fly ash, a residue of coal combustion, is buried in landfills.

The Armagh fly ash dump is operated by Robindale Energy Services Inc., which works with the Seward Generating Station, the largest waste coal-fired generating plant in the world, about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh. The Seward plant is about twice as large as the one proposed in Robinson.

Lisa Graves Marcucci, a community advocate with Jefferson Action Group Inc., an organization concerned with the health and environmental effects of fly ash, asked the planning commission to adopt the standards established by a panel of 14 scientists in a recently completed National Academy of Sciences study of fly ash.

Ms. Graves Marcucci said the 18-month study found no one could guarantee fly ash would not harm humans or the environment, especially drinking water, and asked the commission to require fly ash be buried above the water table, inside special liners, and under other conditions endorsed by the study.

She also asked the township to hire independent environmental experts to do environmental impact studies before, during and after the project is built, at the expense of Robinson Power.