Lou Barletta blasts Kanjo training site

BILL O’BOYLE

boboyle@timesleader.com

HAZLETON – said the proposed training facility endorsed by his election opponent, 13-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, will have an adverse effect on Conyngham Township, forcing residents there to get used to “chases, machine-gun fire and bomb blasts.”

 “There would be about 500 bomb blasts a year at the site, according to published reports about a similar project proposed for Maryland,” Barletta said. “That project was successfully fought and killed by Maryland residents, who said the military-style camp would disrupt their lives.”

“I will never put residents of this district in danger by supporting a project like this,” said Barletta, the 54-year-old Republican challenger for the 11th Congressional District seat. “What guarantees are we going to have that children will not sneak onto this bomb range? What will this project do to home values? What businesses are going to move into a town that’s rocked by 500 explosions a year? Mr. Kanjorski’s project will completely destroy the area around it, and I’m going to fight it.”

Barletta said the region “needs good jobs and real answers to our problems, not more of Kanjorski’s fantasy projects – least of all one that will turn our communities into bomb ranges.”

Kanjorski, 73, provided information Thursday about the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center and what it would mean to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

According to Kanjorski, if the Department of State and the General Services Administration, which is responsible for providing workplaces for federal employees and managing federal properties, choose to build the training facility in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the region will reap the economic rewards:

• The training facility would bring up to 1,000 permanent jobs to the area, in addition to 350-550 construction jobs during the initial phase of the project. Kanjorski said new jobs at the facility would include buildings and grounds, range operations, emergency medical services, administrative, custodial, vehicle maintenance, security, telecommunications, and food service. He said the jobs would range “from maintenance to college professors.”

• The training facility would bring about 10,000 trainees to the area each year, which would benefit small businesses, hotels and restaurants.

• DOS would likely need to contract and subcontract with many local businesses particularly during and after the construction to help create the facility and provide services to it.