LORDSTOWN - Lordstown residents speak out against the renewal of a wastewater discharge permit for the Clean Energy Future Trumbull LLL Trumbull Energy Center at a public hearing hosted by the Ohio EPA Wednesday night.

The session was meant to provide answers to residents' questions and collect testimonies from the community about their concerns with the water discharge.

The session also explained how the water discharge process works as well as how the permit process works.

The energy center, which would discharge around 620,000 gallons of wastewater into the Mud Creek, is scheduled to begin commercial operations in the Spring.

The center purchases water from Warren and discharges it into the nearby Mud Creek. 

Mayor Jackie Woodward originally called for residents to attend the meeting last week and expressed concerns waste water discharge would have on the local environment as well as public safety. 

"What is that doing to the resident's property? Livestock use this creek to drink water from," she said.

Woodward directly opposed the renewal in a prepared testimony.

Lordstown Solicitor Matthew Ries says the Lordstown City Council officially opposes the renewal of the wastewater discharge permit.

"The village has concerns, not only about the quality, but also the quality of the proposed discharge, including how the discharge will be controlled to avoid downstream flooding, as well as how the water quality will be sampled and tested," he said in a prepared testimony to the EPA.

Ries adds that the neighboring Lordstown power plant uses a local sewer system to discharge water and believes the Trumbull Energy Center should have to do the same.

Lordstown resident Michael Grimm says he believes the center should have to pay to use the community's sewers as opposed to water discharge inot a local body of water.

"Every time we go to wash our car, every time we get our dog a bowl of water, we pay for that," he said.

The Ohio EPA will allow people from Lordstown and beyond to submit comments for consideration about the permit renewal process over its website or by mail.

The deadline to submit a statement is Feb. 11 at 5 p.m..