As Halloween approaches, local business owners are looking at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s latest attempt to breathe life into tolling Interstate 80 as Dr. Frankenstein’s monster.

On Monday, business people, economic groups and area politicians along I-80 brought out everything short of torches and pitchforks to prevent the monster from ever walking the face of the earth.

“For ever how long I’m in the state legislature I have a feeling this is always going to be an issue,’’ said state Rep. Mark Longietti, Farrell, D-7th District. “And this is something we’re going to have to beat back.’’

A study commissioned by local business groups on how tolls would affect businesses and residents along the highway was released at Grove City College. During a news conference, local politicians lined up to voice their opposition to tolls saying the local economy is already stressed to the breaking point.

“The economic impact (of tolling I-80) can’t be understated,’’ said state Sen. Robert D. “Bob” Robbins, Salem Township, R-50th District.

State representatives said tolling I-80 is a shifty political attempt to stuff funds for mass transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

“This is about the economy of rural Pennsylvania,’’ said Rep. Michele Brooks, Jamestown, R-17th District. “The politics should be thrown out the door.’’

In detailing the 47-page report, its author, Tracy C. Miller, an associate professor of economics at Grove City College, said the Turnpike Commission’s assumptions aren’t valid.

“The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission wants us to believe (Interstate) 80 is a drain,’’ Miller said. The commission plans to submit supplemental information to the Federal Highway Administration in support of its application to put tolls on I-80, spokesman Carl DeFebo said.

Miller’s report concluded a toll on I-80 would likely result in the loss of $1 billion to residents, businesses and communities along the highway from a downturn in orders that would, in turn, cost jobs and lower property values.

Using the state’s own figures, Miller said he found the annual cost of maintaining the 311-mile cross-state highway is about $80 million. But in 2006, trucks paid more than $90 million in taxes and user fees and cars paid more than $40 million in gasoline taxes for miles they traveled on I-80.

Among the biggest losers for a toll would be local trucking companies which could take a hit of as much as $1 million in additional costs. Further, a toll could sock independent truckers between $435 and $1,910 a year, the report said.

In all, Miller said, more than 10,000 trucks travel the highway across Pennsylvania.

Last week, state legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell ended a brutal fight of more than 100 days to get a new state budget passed. All agreed that money is scarce. But tolling I-80 isn’t a solution, said state Rep. Richard “Dick” Stevenson, R-8th District, Grove City.

“We need to find a solution in Pennsylvania that doesn’t toll I-80.’’