ESC Harrison Power Plant conceptual layout

From an Article by Charles Young, WV News, April 13, 2019

CLARKSBURG — Following several years of planning, the developers of a natural-gas-fired power plant planned for a site in Clarksburg’s Montpelier Addition hope to begin construction this summer.

The plant will be West Virginia’s first gas-fired facility. A firm date for the start of construction has not been set and will depend on factors like weather and the finalization of agreements with local entities like the Clarksburg Water Board and the Sanitary Board. Developers expect work to begin in June or July.

The Harrison County Power Plant, a project of Energy Solutions Consortium and Caithness Energy, will be an approximately 630-megawatt generation facility, which is enough electricity to power approximately 425,000 homes, according to project representatives.

During the plant’s construction phase, which is expected to take around 24 months, the plant will support 400 jobs and will rely on local union laborers. Developers are aiming for an estimated in-service date of November 2021.

The company estimates the annual overall economic impact of the plant will be about $880 million, and it is expected to provide up to 30 permanent, well-paid positions during the plant’s operating life.

Todd Waldrop, project director, attended the Clarksburg Water Board’s March 12 meeting and asked its members to consider an alternate main water line extension agreement between the utility and the company. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the Water Board would serve as the sole supplier of water to the power plant through a dedicated main line, Waldrop said. “We want to construct the lateral for the line from North Ohio Avenue up to the fence line of where the facility will be,” he said. “It’s about a 2,500-foot run.”

The power plant is expected to require an average of around 80 gallons per minute. Energy Solutions Consortium would foot the bill for construction of the main line and would build it to “the Water Board’s standards,” Waldrop said.

Power plant developers also met with representatives of the Clarksburg Sanitary Board on March 12 and pitched a similar agreement for sanitary services via an alternate mainline sewer extension agreement. Clarksburg City Manager Martin Howe, who also serves as chairman of the Sanitary Board, said the board’s members are considering the agreement but have yet to take action.

“This is a very significant project to Harrison County and the region,” he said. “The city is fortunate to be in the position that allows for this development to occur. Without continued investment in our infrastructure, the opportunity would most likely not be able to proceed further.”

John Black, vice president of development for the power plant project, said finalization of these two agreements is “critical.”

“It’s a very stingy plant. It doesn’t use very much water at all. Originally, we had proposed taking it out of the river, but the Clarksburg Water Board and the Clarksburg Sanitary Board were able to meet that supply,” he said. “I think that’s a much better situation for the environment because we’re using water that the city is already producing and we are putting it back in the sewer.”

John Wanalista, director of engineering and project management, said developers are still in the middle of negotiations with the project’s potential contractor. “We’re still in negotiations with an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor,” he said. “We’re not at liberty to indicate who that is at this point.”

Even if the water and sewer agreements aren’t fully finalized by the time the contractor is ready to begin work, there are other alternatives, Wanalista said. “If water and sewer are not there on Day One, there are other ways to obtain the waters that are needed,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot of water needed during the initial stages of construction.”

During a recent meeting, Water Board General Manager Dick Welch said installing a temporary water line to supply the project would take less than a “day or so.”

While some residents may have concerns about the construction of a power plant in Montpelier Addition, the project will be much smaller and much less visible than other area facilities, like the Harrison Power Station or the Longview Power Plant near Maidsville, Black said. This is because both of those facilities are coal-fired facilities, while the Clarksburg plant will utilize locally produced natural gas, Black said.

For example, the emission stacks on the Longview Plant are over 800 feet tall, Black said. “Ours are less than 200 feet,” he said. “And there are typically no visible emissions out of ours. Where we are, tucked back in that hollow, our stack won’t even exceed the ridge line. Our footprint is smaller than a coal-powered (plant).”

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Energy Solutions Consortium also has plans in the works for a second gas-powered facility in Brooke County. Its Brooke County Power will be a 830 megawatt natural gas power plant capable of powering the equivalent of 700,000 homes.

The $884 million facility is expected to consume $177.5 million worth of natural gas annually, supporting hundreds of jobs in the region associated with the natural gas industry, according to developers.

The facility will require up to 30 full-time and part-time employees. In addition to the jobs onsite, the project is expected to create 1,164 direct, indirect and induced jobs due to requirements for maintenance, supplies, fuel and other needed local services.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

FERC is Requesting Comments and Scheduling Meeting for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,  Announcement, March 5, 2015

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent out a notice late last month announcing that its staff will begin preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

That process includes a request for comments and a series of public scoping meetings. Read the full notice here.

The notice gives three methods for submitting comments to FERC (make sure to include the docket number for ACP — PF15-6-000 — in any correspondence):

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426

The public scoping meeting schedule is below:

Monday, March 23, 2015 at 7:00 PM.  Elkins High School, 100 Kennedy Drive, Elkins, WV.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 7:00 PM.  Bridgeport High School, 515 Johnson Avenue, Bridgeport, WV.

Public Issues that may be addressed during the scoping meetings:

• All alternatives need to be evaluated; there is only one route being surveyed by Dominion’s consultants, but it is FERC’s duty to fully assess all alternatives to lessen or avoid environmental impacts. Include review of alternatives using existing pipelines and existing corridors.

• The pipeline impacts need to be evaluated during all phases of the project, from construction through completion. FERC should evaluate impacts during construction, including the potential use of fly ash for backfill, and cumulative impacts following the completion of the pipeline, such as increased fracking.

• FERC should evaluate whether it is a public necessity to use eminent domain to build an additional pipeline when there are existing pipelines and corridors already in place which are not being operated at full capacity.

• The Monongahela National Forest is sensitive ecosystem, and FERC should evaluate whether there are alternatives that would avoid impacting this area. Constructing a pipeline will increase forest fragmentation, so FERC should evaluate how many acres of forest will be fragmented and the impact on local wildlife.

• Geology and soils: West Virginia contains many unique geologic features including an extensive underground cave system that is an important part of WV tourism. FERC should also evaluate the impacts of increased sedimentation from runoff and loss of topsoil during construction.

• Land use: WV is known for its outdoor recreational opportunities. FERC should evaluate how the pipeline would impact outdoor recreation and tourism.

• Water resources, fisheries and wetland: The pipeline will have to cross numerous streams, rivers, and wetlands. FERC should evaluate how many crossings will occur, the acres of wetlands to be disturbed and how the pipeline will impact springs and drinking water sources. Impacts to freshwater streams will also affect fisheries resources, which is an important part of the state’s ecology and tourism. With impacts to the hydrology there could be cumulative effects such as flooding, so FERC should evaluate how the construction impacts from disturbing streams and wetlands will impact flood events.

• West Virginia contains many cultural resources, such as Native American and civil war artifacts; How the pipeline’s construction will impact these cultural resources?

• Vegetation and wildlife: Appalachian mountains contain very diverse vegetation that provide a lot of economic benefits such as ginseng and several tree species such as red spruce that are already in decline. FERC should evaluate how the pipeline will impact these and other important vegetation species. West Virginia has diverse wildlife populations from large mammals to small salamanders that play an important role in the ecosystem. FERC should evaluate how the construction will impact West Virginia’s wildlife species including breeding and nesting grounds, migration routes, and increased predation from the proposed pipeline corridor.

• Air Quality and Noise: Compression stations and construction will diminish air quality and have increased noise levels. The proximity of the compressor station and pipeline to communities and nearby residences and how to mitigate adverse effects should be fully evaluated.

• Endangered and Threatened Species: West Virginia contains many threatened and endangered species; evaluate how the pipeline will impact all the threatened and endangered species through disturbance, habitat loss, breeding, etc and how the negative impact will be mitigated or avoided.

• Public Safety: Because of the flammability of natural gas, the pipeline is at risk of an explosion. FERC should consider the blast radius should an explosion occur and how many residences are within the blast radius. Further, they should evaluate mitigation efforts to avoid densely populated areas. Evaluate the health risks associated with living near a compressor station or a leaking natural gas pipeline.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Decker's Creek Rail Trail

ENERGY CORPORATION OF AMERICA

501 56th Street, S.E.,  Charleston, W.Va.

For Immediate Release: April 18, 2014

ECA elects not to pursue “injection well project” in Preston County

This week, Energy Corporation of America (ECA) determined not to pursue an injection well the company has been exploring near Masontown in Preston County.

A number of different factors led to this decision.  It is a complicated and involved process, which took nearly a year to complete.  Throughout this process we considered all of the factors necessary to determine if the project would be practical to pursue.  These factors included well integrity, ease of site access, environmental sensitivities, and many others.  In the end, our exploration simply concluded this well is not a good candidate for conversion to a Class II injection well at this time.

While we had hoped the project would come to fruition, our approach was responsible and produced the most comprehensive decision possible.  We will continue to operate as we have for more than 50 years, focusing on the wellbeing of our employees, safety of the environment, and ongoing commitment to the communities where we operate.         -30-

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WV DEP Issues Cease Operations Orders to Antero at Sites in Harrison & Doddridge Counties

From an Article by Kim Freda, WBOY News 12, Clarksburg, April 18, 2014

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of Oil and Gas have issued violation notices to Antero Resources in relation to an April 11 tank rupture at a well pad located in Doddridge County and an April 15 tank rupture at a well pad in Harrison County.

Two storage tanks at the Antero’s Marsden Well Pad in Doddridge County ruptured due to a build up of pressure, said DEP spokeswoman Kelley Gillenwater. The first notice of violation was issued for the imminent danger to people on or around the pad and issued a cease operations order that will remain in effect until the order is complied with.

A second notice of violation was issued for pollution, due to an undetermined amount of produced water that spilled onto the well pad during the rupture, said Gillenwater. As a result of the violations, Antero is required to produce information to help determine the cause of the rupture, to sample and analyze soil, and to develop and submit a plan to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Remediation may be required upon completion of the soil analysis.

Additionally, the DEP issued an imminent danger notice of violation to Antero in connection to an April 15 tank rupture at the Varner-West well pad in Harrison County. The notice of violation also requires Antero to cease operations at the well pad until detailed information related to the cause of the rupture and an accident prevention plan are provided. In this incident, the DEP said no produced water spilled onto nearby soil. Similar to the Marsden well pad incident, the tank rupture occurred due to a build up of pressure inside the tank, said Gillenwater.

No injuries or fires were reported as the result of either incident.

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See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net