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Closure to have little impact |
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Friday, 21 May 2010 |
By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — Officials with local municipalities that received power from a power plant near Marietta that will soon close say the decision will not impact their power needs.
On Wednesday, American Municipal Power (AMP) announced it would close a coal-fired plant near Marietta as part of a settlement regarding a federal lawsuit claiming it violated pollution standards for years. The plant will go offline Dec. 31.
“We knew about it before,” St. Marys Safety-Service Director Tom Hitchcock said. “It’s not really going to affect us, it was one of our more expensive power sources.”
St. Marys obtains 4 megawatts of power from the plant. Hitchcock said as green energy becomes available, he plans to explore adding it as a power source for the city.
“We look forward to future energy sources,” Hitchcock said. “But we need to make sure it’s the lowest cost we can supply to our customers.”
The village of Minster also has a share in the plant. Village Administrator Don Harrod said the village gets 1 megawatt of energy from the coal plant, which makes up one-twentieth of the village’s power.
“It had been talked about closing it for some time,” Harrod said. “We already have replacement power for 2011 and 2012. I know they are looking at some long-term power supplies and the way the market is, it’s a good time to look at that.”
Minster also is looking at expanding into green energy. Harrod said village officials are eyeing several projects in the future.
“We are participating in another AMP project that has hydroplants along the Ohio River,” Harrod said. “They are working on them now and are calling for them to be online by the end of 2011.”
New Bremen obtained one-third of its power from the plant. Village Administrator Wayne York said village officials already started the process to obtain power.
“Our AMP organization, they had been shopping and right now wholesale prices are still advantageous going five years out,” York said. “It will be no worse and if anything, better off with prices.”
In addition to closing the plant, AMP will pay a $850,000 fine and spend $15 million on energy-saving initiatives for customers.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 August 2010 )
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