Coal-fired power plant in Pleasants County, WV

Editorial from the Beckley Register-Herald, June 3, 2022

Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, made a preposterous late game pitch this past week, calling for partial government ownership of the economically endangered Pleasants Power Station. He wants the West Virginia Public Energy Authority – a body whose members are appointed by the governor and whose mission is to foster, encourage, and promote the mineral development industry in West Virginia – to throw whatever weight it might have behind the survival of an ailing power plant, which like most all other coal-fired facilities across the country has been on life support in recent years. By way of example, company executives are planning for the sale or deactivation of the Pleasants County facility by 2023 – next year.

But not to be dissuaded, Hamilton would like the state to help the plant remain operational and burn more coal well into the future, not because that would be in the best interests of the taxpayers who would be putting up the jack to foot the purchase, but rather of the people who sign his paycheck.

We the people are not paid to represent the special interests of an ailing industry and, as such, are more interested in having our tax dollars invested prudently in a more promising future of energy solutions, not the tired and fading answers of the past.

As you may remember, the state already has some skin in the game with the facility at Willow Island. The Legislature, at Gov. Jim Justice’s calling, met in special session in 2019 and provided First Energy Solutions, owner of Pleasants Power Station and going through bankruptcy at the time, an annual $12.5 million tax exemption. And even after that, the place is still odds on favorite to close up shop.

Of a similar narrative, state officials have recently taken steps to save the remaining coal-burning power plants around West Virginia with the Public Service Commission giving two thumbs up to wastewater projects at three plants owned by American Electric Power. The commission is expected to approve similar projects at two more owned by First Energy, which once owned Pleasants before selling it to Energy Harbor.

When completed, the projects will allow all five plants to remain operational beyond 2028. The companies’ customers? They will get stuck with the bill – on a monthly basis.

And this is the game and the people that get played time and again in this state – and at the end of the day it is the taxpayers and the rate payers who get stuck with the bill of sale. They are the ones who are funding these projects through tax breaks and the like. They are the ones taking all of the risk and receiving, in return, a bigger monthly utility bill.

This is a state that for too long has played by the rules of the Good Ol’ Boys in gas and oil, rules and laws that favor coal barons like our governor and others who promise jobs, jobs, jobs and then leave an environmental mess in the wake of another coal mine closing for we the people to clean up and drink the contaminated water.

Make no mistake, what Hamilton is calling for is government owning a significant share of a private enterprise – one, in this case, that is in decline. Thanks, but we will take a pass, Mr. Hamilton.

Now, let’s talk about passing legislation that would pave the way of the renewable energy industry in this state. Like it or not, that is the future, and that is the investment that will pay dividends.

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Gazette-Mail editorial: Why coal industry is distraught over ‘socialism’ | Editorial | wvgazettemail.com, June 8, 2022

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/editorial/gazette-mail-editorial-why-coal-industry-is-distraught-over-socialism/article_feaac719-81c6-5e77-9cdb-32129f5f333f.html

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See Also: Willow Island disaster 40 years ago — Ceremony will mark the anniversary of the cooling tower tragedy that killed 51, Jess Mancini, Marietta Times, April 27, 2018

Thanks to WV-CAD from WV Energy Freedom

From the Press Release, West Virginians for Energy Freedom, January 13, 2018

A federal decision put an end to FirstEnergy Corp.’s bad deal for its West Virginia customers, thousands of whom had protested the company’s plan.

On January 12th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied Ohio-based FirstEnergy’s request to transfer ownership of the Pleasants power plant to Mon Power, one of FirstEnergy’s regulated West Virginia utilities.

Under FirstEnergy’s proposal, customers of Mon Power and Potomac Edison, another FirstEnergy-owned utility in West Virginia, would have assumed all of the plant’s costs and financial risks, while FirstEnergy and its shareholders would receive a guaranteed revenue stream.

The Pleasants deal needed approval from both FERC and the Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia. Solar United Neighbors of West Virginia and West Virginia Citizen Action Group, represented by Earthjustice, challenged FirstEnergy’s proposal before FERC and the PSC. At FERC, SUN-WV and WVCAG argued that customers would be forced to cross-subsidize FirstEnergy’s corporate affiliates.

In its decision, FERC denied FirstEnergy’s proposal because of cross-subsidy concerns. In particular, FERC found that Mon Power’s December 2016 request for proposals for additional power plant capacity – which SUN-WV and WVCAG argued was biased in favor of the Pleasants plant – failed to meet federal standards.

“FERC rejected the Pleasants sale because of the risk that it would result in improper cross-subsidization among subsidiaries of FirstEnergy,” said Cathy Kunkel, an energy analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “Indeed, FirstEnergy clearly orchestrated the sale of the Pleasants plant in order to shift costs and risk from a deregulated subsidiary onto the customers of Mon Power and Potomac Edison.”

Under this ruling, Mon Power would need to conduct a new RFP process if still seeks to acquire additional power generation capacity.

“In this decision, the FERC commissioners – four of whom were appointed by the current president – unanimously rejected a brazen attempt to force Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers to guarantee profits for FirstEnergy and its shareholders. This is a major victory for West Virginia customers, who would have likely paid hundreds of millions of dollars if FirstEnergy’s scheme had succeeded,” said Michael Soules, an Earthjustice attorney representing SUN-WV and WVCAG.

The Pleasants deal would have cost the average residential household approximately $69 each year for the next 15 years, according to expert testimony in the case before the PSC. In total that’s a net present value loss of $470 million that 530,000 Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers would be forced to bear.

FirstEnergy had expressed confidence to investors that the Pleasants sale would close in the first quarter of 2018. However, earlier this week, a lawyer for FirstEnergy, concerned that FERC might rule against the company, made an improper ex parte communication with one of the FERC commissioners in an attempt to influence the Commission’s decision.

“From its past history with the Harrison Plant sale to its sham RFP and misleading claims in the FERC and PSC cases on Pleasants, FirstEnergy has repeatedly demonstrated it prioritizes its bottom line and stockholders over consumers in West Virginia. This time, thankfully FERC stopped FirstEnergy in its tracks,” said Karan Ireland of West Virginians For Energy Freedom.

Read the FERC decision.