Firm cleaning up community as Seminole work continues | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Volunteers from The Industrial Co., Seminole Electric Cooperative and Water Works Environmental Education Center in Palatka clean up the center Saturday as part of celebrating Earth Day early.
Positively Putnam FL

A construction service hired for a Palatka project wants to leave the community cleaner than when it arrived and started at the Water Works Environmental Education Center last weekend.

The Industrial Co., which will have up to 500 employees working on a natural gas-fire-powered plant for Seminole Electric Cooperative, will spend each Saturday in April cleaning up parts of the community, said Cindy Brewer, the stewardship lead for The Industrial Co.

“We ... just make sure we engage with the communities that we are in because our peak project capacity will have 500 people out here,” Brewer said. “So, we will be a big part of Putnam County.”

On April 3, volunteers with The Industrial Co. and Seminole Electric helped work on the Water Works gopher tortoise enclosure and will continue there Saturday and April 17, Brewer said.

And the volunteers are just in time for Florida Gopher Tortoise Day, which is Saturday, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The volunteers will round out their events April 24 by cleaning up West River Road with Keep Putnam Beautiful.

“We just want to make sure we keep our front yard clean and do our part,” Brewer said.

The cleanup events correspond with Earth Day on April 22, but Water Works volunteer Shann Purinton said it really should be “Earth Month.” She thought there were at least 12 people who helped volunteer Saturday and they got a lot done.

“They were fabulous. … It was just incredible,” Purinton said.

Volunteers also plan to plant pecan trees, pressure wash the Water Works buildings and help with landscaping, Brewer said.

The Industrial Co. is estimated to continue working on Seminole in Palatka into 2022. By completion, Brewer said, one of the coal-fueled fire plants will be turned off and the power plant will produce 1,050 megawatts of energy with its new natural gas-powered facility.

“My hope for the community is also that the energy prices are going to decrease a little bit,” Brewer said. “But I don’t know that for a fact.”

Seminole said last summer it received confirmation of $727 million in federal loans to build its gas-fired plant in Putnam County, expected to be operational in early 2023.