Morgantown Dominion Post
19 December 2008
By Brandy Brubaker

Allegheny Power plans to expand Fort Martin Power Station’s barge loading and unloading area for its scrubber project. Allegheny Power Spokesman Mark Nitowski said more space will be needed for limestone that will be brought in by barge on the Monongahela River once the plant’s new flue gas desulfurization equipment, commonly known as scrubbers, is running.

Allegheny Power filed an application with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh to get a permit to expand Fort Martin’s barge area.

The barge area would be expanded in two areas — the place where empty barges waiting to leave and full barges waiting to be unloaded sit, and the area near the scrubbers where they unload the barges, Nitowski said.

The work is expected to be completed in fall 2009 before the scrubbers go online and will be done by a subcontractor hired by Washington Group International, the general contractor on the scrubber project, Nitowski said.

The scrubbers, expected to be completed in 2009, will remove about 95 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions and significantly reduce mercury emissions from the station, according to Allegheny Power’s Web site.

The scrubber project will cost about $550 million, the Web site said.

The proposal is open for public comment until Jan. 2, 2009. The permit will be granted unless “its issuance is found to be contrary to the public interest,” a public notice said.