Hearing draws foes, supporters of proposed power plant
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Although the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has amended a draft of an air-quality permit to allay concerns about a power plant to be built near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia state line, some still claim the agency isn’t doing enough. And the department further angered opponents after admitting Thursday that transcripts from a Sept. 15 public hearing are not available because the court reporter has not returned repeated calls and certified letters seeking the transcripts.
Consequently, any submissions not submitted in writing may be lost, the DEP said.
The DEP has extended the public comment period on the draft permit for the Longview Power Plant until Jan. 5 at 5 p.m., and anyone who did not submit a formal statement during the first hearing may send one to the department until that date.
After three federal agencies expressed concerns about the 660-megawatt coal-fired plant, to be constructed by Massachusetts-based GenPower LLC, the DEP Division of Air Quality (DAQ) extended the public comment period, but it did little to ease concerns about the plant’s expected pollution emissions with the amended draft permit.
Approximately 100 residents filled the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Auditorium at West Virginia University on Thursday to voice opposition and support for the plant, which is tentatively scheduled for construction in late 2004.
The plant would be built less than a mile from the Fayette and Greene County line and within a 20-mile radius of three existing plants – Allegheny Energy’s Fort Martin, W.Va., and Hatfield’s Ferry, Greene County, plants and the new Duke Energy plant in German Township – all along the Monongahela River.
In late September and early October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Forestry Service and the National Park Service (NPS) criticized the West Virginia DEP for drafting a proposed permit for the plant. The agencies said the DEP should place more stringent requirements on Longview, to reduce allowable emissions from the plant.
And, at earlier meetings, Fayette and Greene County residents expressed concerns about the proximity of the plant to the Monongahela River and the direction of the prevailing winds, which they said could send pollutants northward and directly affect residents in both counties.
The DEP amended the original draft permit after discussion with the federal agencies, but it made no significant changes other than additional requirements for enforcement of the restrictions in a new mitigation plan.
“After re-evaluation of the best available control technology, the control technology has been determined appropriate,” a DAQ spokesperson said.
According to the DAQ’s Chris Arrington, the permit now includes a mitigation plan that is intended to reduce air-quality effects. However, the reduction will not be to emissions from the plant itself, as Arrington said the restrictions there couldn’t be any more stringent.
Instead, the proposal calls for Longview to purchase credits under a federal program that allows power plants to sell and trade sulfur dioxide pollutant credits.
Essentially, the program allows some companies to emit larger amounts of the toxin, while other companies reduce emissions to offset the overall amount of pollutants.
According to DEP Director John Benedict, the proposed permits for the plant meet or exceed national standards.
But many residents who expressed concern Thursday said those standards are not enough.
“Most people think this plant will have a significant negative impact, and they don’t want it here,” said Donna Weems of the Cheat Lake Environmental Association. “I don’t think the EPA guidelines are adequate. Our children are vulnerable.”
Weems and others said they were concerned about how the plant could affect air quality and, as a result, people with respiratory ailments. She said a study released by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services found that the incidence of asthma statewide had doubled from 1989 to 1999.
Margaret Felios, another opponent, noted that in Monongalia County alone more than 8,000 residents 65 and older suffer from asthma.
Dressed in a white plastic jumpsuit with rubber boots and air mask, Jarrett Jamison of Fort Martin, W.Va., railed at the DAQ representatives about poor air quality in Monongalia County.
He accused the DEP and DAQ of “manipulating” the results of the model analysis to suit Longview and contended that the Longview plant would create a dual layer of pollution in the air, as the 1,647-foot smokestack will tower over the nearby Fort Martin plant’s stack, which is about 900 feet shorter.
Not all those commenting at Thursday’s hearing objected to the plant, however, as the audience was evenly divided between supporters and opponents.
Tom Wheble, project manager for GenPower, told the crowd that the new plant will help the area by creating jobs, helping the tax base and actually improving air quality in the area.
Wheble contends that the restrictions on the new plant, particularly the purchasing of credits for sulfur dioxide emissions, will reduce the overall emissions in the area, despite the new source for the pollutant.
“If Longview is built, air quality will improve,” he said. “If Longview is not built, air quality will not improve.”
Chuck Flohr and Greg Johnson, members of the Boilermakers Local 667, both said the plant will bring jobs to the area and that the permit meets or exceeds all national standards.
“The area needs the work, and the country needs the power,” Flohr said.
Johnson said the plant offers an opportunity for the area to continue to be productive, but he added that he is supportive of all the opinions being aired and addressed before the plant is built.
“I would never want to do anything that would hurt my daughter,” he said.
While the plant’s opening could be delayed because of the extension of the public comment period, Wheble said the Shannopin Mine water treatment project in Greene County that is linked to the plant is still on schedule and should be up and running early next year.
GenPower plans to use treated water from the former mine in the Longview plant’s cooling system.