DeWeese criticizes governor for halting prison project
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HARRISBURG - The state spent $2.2 million on construction before the Department of Corrections pulled the plug on a $200 million prison planned for Fayette County in February, and one area lawmaker is calling the cancellation irresponsible and wasteful.
Former Gov. Ed Rendell's administration planned construction of the State Correctional Institution at German Township, but when Gov. Tom Corbett took office earlier this year, his administration nixed the plan. By then, contractors had been selected, land had been surveyed and $2.2 million had been spent.
The expenditures were outlined in documents that the Department of General Services provided in response to a right-to-know request from state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, whose district includes the planned prison site.
According to those records, the state paid $2 million on construction management and site selection, $164,000 on attorneys, $5,000 on land surveys and $1,100 on a title search.
Mr. DeWeese on Wednesday accused the Corbett administration of squandering tax dollars.
Mr. DeWeese has been a proponent of the project, saying it would have brought at least 650 jobs to Fayette County.
"This project was zipping along aggressively and the workforce was eager to have it," Mr. DeWeese said Wednesday. "If Corbett was sincere in his desire to ameliorate the unemployment in exceptionally hardscrabble communities, this would have been a sterling opportunity."
Officials from the departments of General Services and Corrections said the project was deemed unnecessary because the prison population has decreased and because the majority of inmates come from the eastern part of the state and should be housed near their families.
"In the grand scheme of things, had we gone forward it would have been a $200 million project that was unnecessary," said Troy Thompson, spokesman for the Department of General Services.
He said the Corbett administration didn't waste $2.2 million, as Mr. DeWeese suggests. Rather, Mr. Thompson said, the administration saved $198 million by stopping construction.
First Published May 5, 2011 12:00 am
