Posted on 09/04/2012 5:03:18 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
Three coal-fired power plants in West Virginia will soon stop generating electricity.
The last day of power generation for FirstEnergy Corp.'s plants in Albright, Rivesville and Willow Island was scheduled for Saturday.
FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the plants would be deactivated by the end of the day.
Officials say some workers likely will remain on the job for a short period. They will deactivate the plants and take care of permits and environmental regulations. The plants employ a total 210 workers.
FirstEnergy also plans to close six coal-fired operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Ohio-based utility attributes the closures to new federal environmental regulations aimed at reducing emissions of mercury and other toxic pollution.
Hopefully the East Coast will experience several brown-outs before the November elections - more “Hope-n-Change” is on the way!
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/Nuclear-Plants-in-Germany-Sit-Idle-as-Coal-use-Grows-by-13.5.html
Coal is cheap too. I guess it's time for Germany to move on, eh? Hypocrite?
Sounds about right to me.
Richard Trumka (Obama's most frequent visitor) was at one time president of the UMWA.
To what, The Next Big Thing? What is that? This is a mining and largely rural state. The people there don't have a lot of skills, at least those who grew up in coal mining country. They aren't going to go out and magically get jobs as nanotechnologists and computer systems engineers (even if there were a lot of jobs in those areas, which there aren't). This isn't Rocket Boys, its the real world. For every Homer Hickam there are a thousand Ike Bykovskys who make their living mining coal.
Not falling for agenda driven science. Just think it’s ludicrous to push electric cars while shutting down power plants. People are fools for not seeing the hypocrisy.
I left WV (1981) because a different opportunity opened for me.I can only surmise that coal's position as king has been in jeopardy for at least 20 years.
Plenty of time to have kitchen table discussions
The same labor in a mine is needed in the gas/oil field ... the only thing missing is ....the union.
You sound like Senator Rockefeller, who also arrogantly tells people here in WV to “move on”. The Socialist-Democrats want to control everything and they don’t care how many lives they ruin.
The cost per MW is surprisingly comparable, with combined cycle gas-fired plants rivaling many coal-fired plants. I don't watch the daily costs, but what I've seen more recently, the most efficient coal-fired generating units still run at a lower cost than combined cycle gas generation, but not much lower. And a lot of smaller, older coal generators are more expensive to run than gas.
The big disadvantage for coal right now is one created by the government - EPA standards have become more stringent and are being applied to older units. Utilities are finding that it isn't cost-effective to retrofit older generation with the latest pollution control equipment and are closing down many of the older coal-fired generation instead.
It's not because the plants are no longer servicable, it's because the EPA has grossly overstepped its authority.
I’m in PA and I am scared to death to open my electric bills every month. My electricity has tripled in the past two years. It’s insane.
You can thank Obamna who pledged that your rates would necessarily skyrocket under his plan. Also thanks to Eigenkeit above and others in Europe who have convinced Obama and the elites that we must suffer and pay more to allegedly save the world from thermageddon.
It would benefit from s'more research on US coal plant emissions/efficiencies.
Assuming they are all married, that’s at least 420 votes for Mitt.
We've been using coal for fuel for centuries and we are still living longer every year.
Coal is the least expensive fuel, and without government penalties would be way less than natural gas.
Are you a shill for Range Resources?
I love natural gas but coal is less costly.
Mein FReund ist nicht recht.
Oh, I DO. Trust me.
Glad to see my home state is coming to its senses.
yea electric bill approaching $400 a month...who says Zero doesn’t keep his promises?
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