Pleasants Power Station to be closed or sold next year

Energy Harbor, which was known as FirstEnergy Solutions prior to its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, said the closures are required steps as part of a transition to carbon-free energy.

The two other units slated to close with the 42-year-old Pleasants Power Station units are the W.H. Sammis coal and diesel oil units in Eastern Ohio — five years ahead of schedule.

The plant deactivations are subject to review by PJM, the regional transmission organization that coordinates wholesale electricity movement in all or parts of 13 states, including West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Energy Harbor spokesman Jason Copsey declined to say if Energy Harbor plans to close or sell the units and what its time frame is for making a decision.

David Hamilton, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Energy Harbor, called retiring the fossil-fueled plants a “difficult but necessary� business decision.

“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,� Hamilton said in a statement.

Energy Harbor’s remaining power generation will come from nuclear plants in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

“Over the past two years, it has been made abundantly clear to us that our customers, communities and capital markets partners recognize the value of partnering with Energy Harbor as we help transform clean energy supply,� company president and CEO John Judge said in a statement.

In a special session in 2019, the West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 207, which exempted merchant power plants — which the bill defines as plants not subject to state Public Service Commission regulations that do not sell electricity to retail consumers — from a business and occupation tax on generating capacity.

Pleasants Power Station was the only power plant in the state subject to the law, which the Legislature passed a day after it was introduced.

“I mean it when I tell you that the coal industry in our state is unbelievably important and we’ve got to preserve it in every way,� Gov. Jim Justice, a coal magnate, said upon signing the bill into law.

Justice dismissed concerns at the time about impropriety stemming from a lawsuit that FirstEnergy Solutions’ pursuit of $3.1 million from the Justice-owned Bluestone Energy Sales Corp. coal as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing over alleged coal stockpiles that Bluestone wouldn’t buy back.

Judge had told legislators that losing the power plant would hurt Pleasants County and the plant’s 160 employees.

FirstEnergy, in February 2018, announced that it planned to close or sell the plant at the start of 2019. However, it later extended its notice of deactivation to June 1, 2022, after the company announced it had reached a deal in a bankruptcy case.

Ten conventional steam coal plants have been retired in West Virginia since 2005, and only nine remain in the state, according to Energy Information Administration data.

The Sammis plant was saved from closure in Ohio by that state’s House Bill 6, a $1.3 billion bailout that FirstEnergy Solutions said at the time would allow the plant to stay open.

FirstEnergy later admitted that it funded dark-money groups to fund a $60 million bribery scheme to make a legislative push for the bailout and was hit with a $230 million fine by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Sean O’Leary, senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, a clean energy nonprofit think tank based in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, said Energy Harbor’s announcement is a harbinger of the eventual fate of all coal-fired power plants in West Virginia.

“It’s crucial for West Virginia’s leaders to recognize and accept that the forces causing coal plant closures are economically overwhelming,� O’Leary said.

O’Leary and other clean energy advocates have called for lawmakers, plant owners and utilities to set up and fund economic transition plans for communities reeling from coal plant and mine closures.

O’Leary has noted that residential energy efficiency measures for low- and moderate-income residents, along with clean energy technologies and worker retraining, were priorities for economic transition funding in Centralia, Washington, where a plant owner-funded $55 million economic transition plan was finalized in 2011 to help that community deal with the closures of a coal mine and plant.

The Select House Coalfield Communities Committee established by House leadership in the West Virginia Legislature to develop policy recommendations to revitalize West Virginia’s coal communities passed one bill this session. House Bill 4479, not yet signed into law by Justice, would create a commission to facilitate grants for coal communities by providing grant applicants with technical assistance and matches for local entities applying for grants.

West Virginia Coal Association President Chris Hamilton did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Proponents of a clean energy transition point to environmental benefits of ending coal-fired electric generation.

The Pleasants Power Station was responsible for more than 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, along with an estimated 64 deaths, 642 asthma attacks and 25 heart attacks in 2019, according to an analysis of data from a federal health risk assessment tool derived by the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group.