COLUMBUS — A public records request and subsequent complaint about the alleged untimely response of that request has been made by Ohio Citizen Action against the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The OAC’s “Money in Politics” project is searching for public records pertaining to American Municipal Power-Ohio’s 1,000 MW power plant proposed for Letart Falls. The original request for documents was made on Dec. 9, 2008 and on Feb. 23 OAC received word that the no documentation involving AMP-Ohio was found in the District.

Catherine Turcer, director of the “money in politics” project pointed out her request was made not just for ODOT’s District 10 but all records created, received by or coming under the jurisdiction of ODOT.

Turcer wrote to Heather Sullivan of ODOT saying: “Common sense tells us that no proposed project on the scale of a 1,000 MW coal plant could be planned without Ohio Department of Transportation involvement.”

Turcer cited what she felt was evidence of this by producing two memos obtained by a public records act request from the Ohio Department of Development which spoke about a request for a traffic study in Racine concerning a “bottle neck” along Ohio 124 as well as improvements to Ohio 124 to accommodate increased traffic.

One ODD memo read: “Road improvements will also be a necessary component of site preparation. State Route 124 is adjacent to the project area. To support additional truck traffic that will be generated by the American Municipal Power Generation Station turn lanes are proposed for SR 124 where necessary. Road resurfacing and realignment of township roads may occur to accommodate heavy equipment and traffic.”

On Friday, Turcer said she has since spoken to Sullivan who is now expanding the parameters of a new search. According to Turcer, Sullivan said she would update her on Friday about the new search for public records at ODOT regarding AMP-Ohio.

The OAC is a vocal opponent against the AMPGS project.