To promote traffic safety in the communities around its Brunner Island power plant in York County, PPL is giving more than $40,000 to the Newberry Township Police Department to purchase truck scales and related equipment.

A $43,650 grant from PPL, presented to township supervisors Tuesday (1/23), kicks off a five-year public safety partnership between PPL and the township’s police department, said Jim Nulton, PPL community relations director.

The Brunner Island plant started major construction projects in 2006 that have resulted in additional traffic on area roads. PPL is adding more than $800 million in environmental equipment at the coal-fired power plant.

“We have taken measures to minimize the amount of truck traffic traveling through the community, but we can’t eliminate it,” Nulton said. “Knowing that traffic is an issue in the community, PPL worked with township officials to find practical ways we can keep the roads, and community residents, safe.”

“These tools will greatly improve our truck safety program,” said Newberry Township Police Chief David Duffy. “We intend to enforce all truck violations we discover, and we appreciate that PPL has been willing to help us address safety issues.”

As part of the grant agreement, surrounding municipalities also will be able to use the truck scales and equipment to perform safety inspections.

PPL’s Brunner Island power plant can generate about 1,500 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power more than 1 million homes. The plant has about 250 full-time employees and hundreds of additional temporary jobs during the construction of the environmental controls.

One major project, already under construction, is to install equipment that will eliminate nearly all of the sulfur dioxide from the power plant’s emissions and that also will result in a reduction in mercury emissions. A second project, to be completed by 2010, will reduce the temperature of water the plant discharges to the Susquehanna River.

PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America.