[1] The plant was originally to use woody biomass material from a number of local forest products and industrial sources, including residues from logging, land clearing activities, pallet manufacturing, furniture and cabinet manufacturing, sawmills, tree trimming and storm damage.

According to the company's original proposal, the facility would have used fluidized-bed boiler technology to enable incineration of a wide variety of woody biomass materials.

The area under discussion is karst geology, and it is unsure what impact the proposed discharge of large volumes of waste water would have had.

Water dumped into "sink holes"—openings into the cave system—would typically migrate quickly though the rock via underground channels and fractures, possibly reaching the level of groundwater, or working its way into streams, wells, and rivers.

In addition to citing air pollution concerns, local residents contended that they depended on the ground water for their drinking water, and the river and caves were habitat for state and federally endangered species such as the Hellbender salamander and the Indiana Cave Bat.