MORGANTOWN – While nearly 800 comments have been submitted to the Public Service Commission regarding Mon Power’s possible purchase of the Pleasants Power Station, only seven people appeared at the PSC headquarters Thursday afternoon for a public comment hearing on the company’s interim solution as it ponders the transaction.
Three spoke against the proposal, four for it.
The interim solution involves Mon Power and Energy Transition & Environmental Management – which plans to demolish the plant and remediate the site – entering into an arrangement for up to 12 months to keep Pleasants open while Mon Power considers and negotiates the purchase and conducts the regulatory proceedings.
Estimating a cost of $3 million per month – $36 million for the year – to keep the plant ready to reactivate, Mon Power would establish a temporary surcharge to customers to cover the costs of keeping the plant open. This would add $2.67 per month to a residential bill, $8.44 per month to a commercial bill.
The companies told the PSC on Friday that they have been working on a Letter of Intent (LOI) with ETEM. “During this time, the companies have been made aware of potential additional costs and significant risks that the companies did not anticipate” in the March 31 interim solution proposal.
Sally Roberts Wilson of Morgantown opposes keeping Pleasants open. She said she is a Mon Power customer and the interim solution will raise her rates and her monthly bill, along with the rates and bills of other customers.
“I am concerned that we will be saddled with the financial liability of this aged facility and its coal ash pond,” she said. “If this were a sound investment, private industry would not have rejected it.” And the lost jobs can be replaced by equally good-paying jobs.
Michael Whitten – he didn’t name his hometown – said he worked in the mining industry as an equipment operator and truck driver, and at Pleasants as a truck driver.
He said fossil fuel companies are seeing record profits while their customers pay higher prices. “I don’t think this is a good idea. I call it a bailout.”
Perry Bryant, who also didn’t name his hometown, talked about climate change and the need to transition from fossil fuels to renewables in order to save the planet.
Speaking for the interim solution, Jay Powell, Pleasants County Commission president, talked about the jobs and millions of dollars the plant provides for the county.
He also discussed the need for reliable base fuels, citing the 2021 Texas blackout, and last year’s winter storm that led to forced outages on the PJM grid here. Pleasants helped keep PJM’s grid working, he said, and is needed to make sure the state remains secure and stable.
“They came to West Virginia to demolish that plant,” he said of ETEM. He understands the interim solution will cost ratepayers – himself included – money. But, “I think we’re protecting West Virginians. … We’re protecting the East Coast and America” by keeping the plant open. Not having power will cost more in the long run.
“Pleasants Power Station is worth saving,” he said. But a permanent solution is needed, not just short term.
David Forshee, a construction worker from Barboursville, said the U.S. energy grid is in transition but renewables aren’t ready to carry the load yet. “Common sense would dictate that we must for the time being maintain this part of the existing and reliable energy-producing plants.”
Delegate Trenton Barnhart, R-Pleasants, was lead sponsor of HR 12, the resolution encouraging Mon Power to keep Pleasants operating. It passed 93-2, while the identical Senate resolution, SR 29, passed unanimously, he told the PSC.
Citing the plant’s 154 jobs, he said, “It’s their livelihood, ladies and gentlemen.” Pleasants has been an economic driver of the county, with a $128 million impact, and ripple effects in 19 counties, since it opened in 1979. “Jobs and opportunities in West Virginia matter. Today we have jobs on the table.”
Delegate Charles Sheedy, R-Marshall, said the plant’s closure will have negative effects not only in West Virginia but it parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Marshall County alone will lose $2.4 million in coal severance taxes plus business property, inventory and equipment taxes from the two companies that supply the plant’s fuel.
He also cited how coal plants support national security and public safety.
Interim solution obstacles
As we reported last Friday, Mon Power and its FirstEnergy sister Potomac Edison informed the PSC that they’ve learned their proposed interim solution may be costlier and riskier than they originally thought.
They said ETEM wants reimbursement for maintaining Pleasants in a suitable condition to resume operation upon Mon Power takeover; costs borne by ETEM after the LOI expires and it prepares the plant for demolition; and compensation and fees during the period of the letter of intent during the period of consideration if Mon Power doesn’t buy Pleasants.
They don’t speculate on potential dollar amounts. But they also note that if a reasonable agreement can’t be reached they’ll notify the PSC and no surcharges would be needed; but they would factor any costs incurred into a future proceeding.
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