Despite tax break, Pleasants Power Station to close next year
Local officials working on plan to delay closing
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CHARLESTON -- The Pleasants Power Station, one of the bedrocks of the economy of Pleasants County, is slated to close next year even after lawmakers passed a tax break to keep the station running. But local leaders are not giving up on keeping the plant open.
Energy Harbor, formerly known as First Energy Solutions, announced Tuesday that in an effort to become 100 percent carbon free, it would close the Pleasants Power Station on Willow Island along with the Sammis Power Station in Stratton, Ohio.
"Retiring the fossil fueled plants is a difficult but necessary strategic business decision critical to the continued transformation of our company," said David Hamilton, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nuclear officer of Energy Harbor. "I am grateful for the dedication and work ethic of our employees as well as the strong support shown by their union leaders and the communities where the plants are located."
Pleasants Power, located along the Ohio River outside of Belmont and five miles south of St. Marys in Pleasants County, has been online since 1979. The plant is known for one of the worst construction accidents in U.S. history when 51 workers died when working on one of the station's two cooling towers.
The plant was slated to be shut down in 2018 after Allegheny Energy Supply, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. in Akron, decided to sell the plant to one of FirstEnergy's other subsidiaries but was rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That deactivation date was moved to 2022.
In 2019, county officials and First Energy Solutions executives proposed seeking a $12.5 million annual break in business and occupation taxes to the state. Gov. Jim Justice added the tax break to a special session agenda in July 2019, with the West Virginia Legislature passing it by wide, bipartisan margins. Justice signed the bill in front of one of Pleasants Power's cooling towers at the end of that month.
"I am deeply disappointed with Ohio-based Energy Harbor's decision to hastily shut down the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island in their quest to become 100 percent carbon free, whatever that means," said Gov. Jim Justice in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "This shallow decision is just not the right thinking. Especially at this critical time, where energy is being weaponized, placing us on the brink of World War III. Our nation cannot abandon fossil fuels with complete disregard for how these decisions affect our economy, our communities, our future, and our safety. Companies like these that are driven by activist shareholders pushing ESG measures, are leaving America dependent on foreign countries for our energy, when we could and should be energy independent."
Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell was among several officials who worked to keep the plant operational the last time the company started talking about deactivation. Though he made no promises, Powell said Wednesday that he was once again working with company officials to push back the new deactivation date.
"It certainly was not good news," Powell said. "I've been working with executives from Energy Harbor and the local administration at Pleasants Power Station and we are teaming together to work against that date of deactivation. I'm hoping we can accomplish it, good Lord willing, again. We're going to work hard and pray hard to make sure that doesn't happen."
Pleasants Power is one of two coal-fired merchant power stations in the state, stations that sell their electric on the wholesale market. The other merchant station, Longview Power Station in Monongalia County, has a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal with the county that exempts it from Business and Occupation taxes. The other six coal-fired power plants in the state pass Business and Occupation tax costs on to ratepayers.
According to Energy Harbor, the plant annually burns more than 3 million tons of coal mined from Ohio and Marshall counties. The station includes two 650-watt generating units and employs more than 160 people, as well as an additional 400 seasonal jobs when the plant shuts down for maintenance.
"There is a lot of work going on behind-the-scenes," Powell said. "There's a lot of work going on and it's just not being accepted that the plant won't be operable this time two years from now."
"My administration will do all we can to help the Pleasants County communities being left high and dry by this decision, and we will work to locate potential buyers for this plant who understand that America is nowhere near the point of getting rid of coal, oil, and gas," Justice said.
Jess Mancini contributed to this story.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.