Nov 14, 2004 By Josh Krysak 6 min read

Dennis Groce can’t seem to get any rest these days. As if publicly battling the proposed Longview Power Plant in West Virginia hasn’t kept the longtime engineer busy enough the last two years, Groce and Brownsville resident Phil Coleman have spearheaded a new group working to stop proposals for another power plant in Greene County.

And now Groce and Coleman’s cause has been dealt another blow this week, as the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Committee approved legislation Tuesday that would adopt an “Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard,” eliminating the term renewable and essentially promoting waste coal burning.

The Point Marion resident, along with Coleman and other members of Truth About Gob (TAG), testified before state environmental officials at a meeting in Burgettstown in September that the proposed plant would create additional air, land and water pollution despite burning waste coal, rather than regular coal. And Coleman and other TAG members contend that including waste coal, or gob, within the definition of renewable energy resources misrepresents what the fuel source is.

Now the new proposal, approved by the Senate committee, would force all energy suppliers across the state to have a minimum of 3.2 percent of their energy derived from a Tier II category, or waste coal burning, a decision Groce said is at direct odds with the environmental needs of the region.

But the state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty said burning gob does represent a viable and clean energy source for the proposed plant.

“Pennsylvania is a remarkable state with abundant natural riches, including a tremendous heritage of coal production that fueled the industrial revolution and provided hard working residents with opportunities for a better life,” McGinty told the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee during a recent hearing on waste coal incentives.

“Unfortunately, that legacy also left significant parts of our state scarred from past mining activities. Now, we have a unique opportunity to power our economy by putting to use an energy source that otherwise would be a threat to our environment and a hazard to our health.”

According to McGinty’s testimony, in 2003, DEP issued mining permits that removed about 500,000 tons of refuse coal in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“While the project will result in the elimination of harmful coal refuse piles, it is also contributing to the creation of more than 300 much-needed jobs throughout southwestern Pennsylvania,” McGinty testified. “This underlies another major tenet of the Rendell administration: spurring job creation and economic growth.”

According to McGinty, DEP has issued mine reclamation contracts to reclaim refuse piles, noting two Growing Greener grants awarded to the Greene County Industrial Development Authority to reclaim the Mather Gob Pile, and said that burning the gob is an untapped energy resource.

But TAG members testified that burning the refuse coal poses added health risks to the area and will further deteriorate air quality in the region.

Coleman contends that the proposed 525-megawatt plant would be more than six times the size of any other refusing burning plants in the state and testified that the refuse coal varies in quality causing unnecessary burning.

TAG also claims that refuse coal contains more than four times the mercury of regular coal and that while the plant would provide jobs, the proposal is not viable because of the health risks.

Coleman said a June 2004 report issued by the Pew Charitable Trust found Pennsylvania leading the nation in deaths caused by particulate pollution.

Groce and Coleman have also worked to organize local efforts to thwart the proposed Longview Power LLC’s 660-megawatt, coal-fired power plant planned for construction in Monongalia County, W.Va., less than a half-mile from the state line.

The plant is all but approved with a final appeal to be heard before the West Virginia State Supreme Court in January.

But DEP officials see no correlation between the projects and maintain the proposed Nemacolin plant only offers to help the environment and the economy.

“In addition to the environmental and economic benefits derived from the re-use of waste coal, the commonwealth’s 15 waste coal power plants generate enough electricity to power approximately 1 million homes annually,” McGinty said. “They do this with relatively low air emissions, adding to the environmental success of cleaning up waste coal piles that cause water and air pollution.”

Construction has been delayed on the waste-burning Nemacolin plant as developers continue to negotiate an air-quality permit with DEP. Construction was tentatively slated for August.

Wellington Development is planning to build a 525-megawatt plant on the former LTV Nemacolin mine property, with several million tons of mining waste used for burning as fuel at the “resource recovery” power project. Electricity produced from the plant would be delivered into the already existing energy grid to serve customers in Pennsylvania and surrounding states.

According to Wellington spokesman Stanley Sears, the proposed facility would use state-of-the-art technology to burn the waste efficiently and cleanly.

Wellington has maintained that sufficient slate dumps are scattered throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia to supply the Nemacolin plant for many years, and the company has entered into confidential agreements with several private entities to use the waste. The plant would use approximately 175,000 tons of coal annually, and 7 million gallons of water would be used from an intake structure already at the site. The water would be drawn from an existing treatment facility.

The LTV site lies on more than 700 acres, but the company expects to use less than 200 acres for the plant.

Once the waste material is removed, the rest of the property will be returned to the township to be used in any way supervisors see fit, although recreation sites have been suggested.

The plant will have enough fuel to burn more than 100 million tons of material over its lifetime and about 2.5 million tons annually.

Sears said the plant will employ an average of 900 workers throughout the three-year construction phase. Wellington estimated late last year that as many as 2,000 people could be working at the height of construction.

Additionally, 65 permanent jobs will be created once construction is complete, and 90 jobs will be created at satellite sites and for fuel handling and transportation.

The new plant should be operational by the summer of 2007.