MORGANTOWN – Gov. Jim Justice on Tuesday vetoed a bill aimed at drawing new business and industry to the state, claiming the bill could harm the state’s coal industry.
The bill is HB 5528. Current law allows the state’s two electric utilities (Mon Power, a FirstEnergy subsidiary, and AEP) to build or buy and then own and operate solar plants — up to 50 megawatt plants totaling 200 MW per utility — in order to draw national companies to West Virginia that want a solar element in their energy portfolio.
The bill increased the potential size of a plant to 100 MW. The 200 MW total cap remained in place. The bill also removed the Dec. 31, 2025, sunset put into the original 2020 legislation, in order to give the utilities more time to build facilities.
Justice said in his veto message that while West Virginia is an all-of-the-above energy state, “it is very important we are careful not to cripple our great coal-fired energy industry in the process.”
While bringing in new energy development technologies is a good opportunity, he said, power companies are being incentivized at the corporate and federal levels to reduce and eliminate coal-fired power – costing consumers more and endangering energy security.
The bill, he said, will encourage companies to turn to more expensive out-of-state energy options – raising consumer costs and ending more coal-related jobs. “All of this ultimately leads to harm for our citizens.”
The bill had six Republican and three Democrat sponsors. It passed the House 61-36 and the Senate 32-1. Testimony in the House Energy Committee diverges significantly from Justice’s suppositions.
Randall Short, of Appalachian Power, told committee members that his utility has regular talks with companies that want to expand in or locate to West Virginia and they have expressed interest in the solar program because they have a corporate interest in renewable energy, for various reasons.
With that access to renewable or renewable credits they wouldn’t consider coming here, he said. Appalachian Power has talking with two companies that are looking to expand and have grants with a renewable energy requirement. Short told senators at a later meeting that developers find the 100 MW option a better scale size and could reduce ratepayer costs.
Short also pointed out that renewables make up only a small portion of Appalachian’s resource mix. They have 6,000 MW of coal-fired capacity and if they reached the 200 MW cap, solar would make up a tiny percentage (3.3%).
Delegate Evan Hansen was the driving force behind the 2020 legislation that led to the creation of this program and was one of this bill’s sponsors.
Informed about the veto, he said, “It’s inexplicable to me that the governor would veto this bill, which would lower the cost of electricity by allowing electric utilities to build larger and more cost-effective solar projects.
“These solar arrays are being built to attract companies to move to West Virginia and create jobs, and many companies won’t even consider moving here without access to significant amounts of renewable electricity. If the governor was actually interested in diversifying the economy and an all-of-the-above energy strategy, he would have signed this bill. It’s truly sad.”
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
