On behalf of Longview Power and all of our 150 employees, I would like to express our gratitude to the West Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO and to the many people in the Morgantown region for their steadfast support for Longview’s plan to build a 1,200 MW natural gas-fired power plant and 20 MW (part of a 50 MW) solar energy facility in Maidsville, West Virginia.
Longview chose to develop these plants to create an all-of–the-above, highly advanced Longview Power Clean Energy Center in West Virginia. Just as our world acclaimed clean coal plant utilizes the region’s abundant coal resources, we want to tap into the world’s largest natural gas fields and jumpstart solar utility grade renewable generation in Appalachia by cleanly converting all of the above into electricity.
Although Longview is based in Monongalia County, it is located on the state line with Pennsylvania. At first, Longview considered building these projects entirely in Pennsylvania.
However, we have long standing ties to the communities in Monongalia County. Many of our 150 employees live in the county. We have an existing long-term contract with the county to pay the county and county schools $106 million over 30 years in lieu of taxes. It did not make sense to build the new projects just across the border from Monongalia County, thereby burdening the county while providing no benefits.
The Longview coal plant was built by union labor. Since we completed the plant in 2011, I have met with members of the Building Trades a number of times. Their proud recollections about building the Longview plant and what it meant to them and their families to be able to work for so many years on a major project so close to home made a real impression. They also committed to fully support the expansion projects and they certainly have been true to their word. They are trustworthy partners, and we are looking forward to building these projects with them.
To make the Longview Power Clean Energy Center a reality, the commissioners of Monongalia County needed to negotiate a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) with Longview. Some time ago, the West Virginia Legislature recognized that unless they authorized counties to put PILOTs in place with power plant builders those builders, would build their plants in surrounding states to avoid the burden of the West Virginia personal property taxes. As West Virginia is a major producer of coal and natural gas, the Legislature wanted to encourage siting those plants in West Virginia.
When we first discussed the expansion projects with the commissioners, they made it very clear that Monongalia County deserved a PILOT as favorable to the County (based on project cost) as the original PILOT with the Longview coal plant. Other West Virginia gas plants have negotiated PILOTs that will pay substantially less, about $27 million over 30 years. The commissioners held the line, however, and insisted on a substantially higher PILOT ($56 million over 30 years) for the expansion projects. At Longview, we view this as an investment in our home county and the continuation of a long-term relationship with a partner we can trust.
To state the obvious, it is by no means easy to develop, finance and build power plants these days. The expansion of the Longview Power Clean Energy Center will bring over $1.2 billion of investment and hundreds of construction jobs to our county. With the support of the Building and Construction Trades and so many others in Monongalia County, we intend to make the Longview Power Clean Energy Center a world class energy center that will benefit all of us in Monongalia County. Many thanks to all of you.
Jeffrey Keffer is the president of Longview Power in Maidsville.
