MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As debate continues on the potential Mon Power and Potomac Edison, units of First Energy Corp., purchase of the Pleasants Power Station, the fate of the Fort Martin Power Station hangs in the balance.
The state Public Service Commission’s Consumer Advocate Division has recommended the closure of Fort Martin and keeping Pleasants Power Station open. Officials made the recommendation because Pleasants Power Station has more up-to-date pollution scrubbers and better access to coal.
Delegate Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, said it’s too early to close any power generation facility.
“Go back to December when we had that deep freeze on and everything fell apart; they were talking about rolling blackouts, and that was with all three plants operating,” Statler last week on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
In the late 2000s, flue gas desulfurization equipment, or scrubbers, were upgraded at the Fort Martin Power Station. Since the plant was brought online in the late 1960s, an estimated $650 million has been spent on environmental upgrades. A report from Mon Power said environmental measures at the plant remove 98 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions and 99 percent of fly ash from flue gases.
“It’s not that long ago that Fort Martin revitalized and put all that money into those systems,” Statler said. “That threw me for a loop. I didn’t realize we were that far behind.”
Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said it’s really not a matter of if but it’s a matter of when coal-fired plants are closed. He said the conversation should switch to jobs. How many jobs can be retained or expanded at the facility, and how many temporary construction jobs can be created in the process?
“I think we have a small window of time now, of a certain number of years, to figure out how we’re going to maintain jobs by hopefully repowering these sites into other types of generation where people can keep their jobs,” Hansen said.
The environmental changes and upgrades at these plants are not likely to end, according to Hansen. He said coal will either lose base load power generation share due to increased future environmental regulations or the potential for reduced efficiency as compared to future alternative sources.
“We need to recognize the new reality we’re in rather than trying to continually give millions of dollars of either taxpayer money or ratepayer money to utilities to force them to keep these old plants open,” Hansen said.
Hansen said antiquated policies favoring coal are why we’re forced to make this decision. But he said moves like Senate Bill 4 modernize the regulatory framework in the state and encourage new technologies.
“As the grid transforms and moves away from coal, it’s moving toward natural gas and potentially toward some new nuclear opportunities, and a lot of battery storage is going to be built in the coming years,” Hansen said.
Mon Power and Potomac Edison have not made any commitment to purchase the Pleasants Power Station or close the Fort Martin Power Station. The PSC is allowing the utilities to continue their review of the possibility.