3 W.Va. Plants Latest to Close Under Utility Restructuring
Charleston Gazette
8 February 2012
By Ken Ward Jr.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Three FirstEnergy power plants in West
Virginia will close in September in the latest move by a utility
to shutter decades-old units that can't meet new federal air
quality standards that limit mercury and other toxic pollutants.
Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy said it would shut down the Albright
Power Station in Preston County, the Rivesville Power Station in
Marion County and the Willow Island Power Station in Pleasants
County.
Together, seven boilers at the three plants have electric
generating capacity of about 660 megawatts, about the equivalent
of a medium-sized modern coal plant.
All three facilities date back to the 1940s and 1950s. They were
not equipped with the latest pollution control devices, and
FirstEnergy used all three in recent years on a very limited basis
to provide power in times of peak demand.
James R. Haney, president of West Virginia operations for
FirstEnergy, cited high costs to implement the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards as the reason
for his company's action.
FirstEnergy said 105 employees at the plants are affected, but
that some will be considered for openings within the company or
may accept special retirement packages.
The EPA air toxics rule has become a new focus for industry
officials, coalfield business groups and regional political
leaders who complain the Obama administration is waging a "war on
coal" aimed at shutting down all mining.
"This is another example of how the EPA is costing us good jobs in
West Virginia and throughout Appalachia," Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin
said in a prepared statement.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson says the rule was needed to cut
emissions of mercury and toxic air pollutants like arsenic and
cyanide. EPA estimates the new standards will prevent up to 96
premature deaths in West Virginia, while creating up to $790
million in health benefits in 2016.
Also, EPA officials note that proven pollution controls are
already available -- and in use at more than half of the nation's
power plants -- to meet the new limits.
FirstEnergy, for example, has announced no plans to close three of
its much larger plants in West Virginia, Fort Martin Power Station
in Monongalia County, Harrison Power Station north of Clarksburg,
and Pleasants Power Station, located adjacent to Willow Island.
Each of those facilities has nearly twice the generating capacity
of the three plants targeted for closure combined. Each has been
outfitted with expensive scrubbers that, while designed to cut
sulfur dioxide emissions, help reduce air toxics as well.
"When the older coal-fired plants are retired and removed from
FirstEnergy's competitive and regulated generating fleet, nearly
100 percent of the power provided will come from resources that
are non- or low-emitting, including nuclear, hydro, pumped-storage
hydro, natural gas and scrubbed coal units," FirstEnergy said in a
prepared statement.
Last month, the West Virginia Sierra Club sponsored a meeting in
Preston County, to try to begin a discussion among local citizens
and FirstEnergy about the Albright plant's future, the impact of a
potential closure, and other economic opportunities for the area.
FirstEnergy officials did not attend, because the company had not
yet announced a final decision on the facility.
"Our goal was to engage FirstEnergy in a discussion about
beginning a transition to cleaner energy sources," said the Sierra
Club's Jim Kotcon. "There is a lot of concern there.
FirstEnergy is a major taxpayer in the county."
Kotcon said the meeting was modeled in part after work the Sierra
Club did that led to a deal last year with TransAlta to phase out
Washington State's only coal-fired power plant and create a $60
million fund to help the community there transition away from
economic reliance on the facility.
"We think something like that has to happen in a lot of areas,"
Kotcon said. "We see a continued decision to reduce use of
coal-fired electricity as the health impacts become more obvious.
Kotcon noted that FirstEnergy's closure date for the three West
Virginia plants, as well as six other plants in Maryland, Ohio and
Pennsylvania, was Sept. 1, 2012, two years before the first
compliance dates in EPA's new air toxics rule.
FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said his company chose the
closer closure date because it couldn't justify additional capital
expenditures for maintenance and other projects at the West
Virginia plants if they were going to close in a few years anyway.
But when American Electric Power announced similar plant closures
in West Virginia, it set the deadline as Dec. 31, 2014, when the
EPA rules were expected to kick in.
Kotcon said public officials and companies in the coalfields need
to give workers and communities more time to ease such transitions
as coal production drops and more plants move away from coal.
"It's important to being the path toward transition so we don't
end up with more communities where a company just announces they
are closing a plant," Kotcon said.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.