Worth a try
FirstEnergy’s decision to close Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Greene County and the Mitchell Power Station in Washington County was definitely some of the worst news to hit here in quite some time.
The loss of 380 good-paying jobs was definitely a jolt to those directly and indirectly affected by the announcement, and it’s all the more worse because those types of jobs are so hard to find in our area.
But almost equally bad was the reaction of our politicians to the news. Our local congressman, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, both Republicans, blamed President Obama and his supposed “war on coal” for the shutdown. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., a Democrat, said only that he supports coal and has pushed the Obama administration to revise its anti-pollution regulations.
But none of the three stepped up to the plate and said they would try to talk to officials from FirstEnergy to see if there was anything that could be done to try and get them to change their minds or talk to the Environmental Protection Agency officials and see if there was any chance of getting them to ease up on their regulations. And there was certainly no talk about trying to get the the two sides together to sit down and see if some sort of compromise could be reached.
And when you consider everything that’s at stake, that’s a real shame.
It certainly seems like an agreement could have been reached if the two sides really wanted to work something out.
FirstEnergy said it was shutting down both the Hatfield and Mitchell power stations because they produce only 10 percent of its total production yet would have accounted for 30 percent of the $925 million needed to make all its power stations compliant with the new federal anti-pollution regulations.
So, if we’re to take company officials at their word, they would have been OK with spending $92 million, 10 percent of that $925 million, to make Hatfield and Mitchell compliant with the anti-pollution regulations.
But the company was shutting the plants down, because it would have had to spend about $275 million to meet the new regulations. So, we’re talking roughly of a difference of about $185 million, give or take a few bucks.
It’s all the more mystifying considering that Allegheny Energy, which sold the plants to FirstEnergy back in 2011, spent $700 million to install scrubbers at the plant several years ago.
So, one company spends $700 million to comply with federal regulations while another won’t even spend $185 million to accomplish the same task.
You have to wonder if Obama’s “war on coal” isn’t the only thing to blame for the plant closing.
And while $185 million is a lot of money, you have to question if that number was really insurmountable. What about tax credits or even subsidies.
The government spends a lot of money on other things that don’t produce 380 good-paying jobs.
Could the company have been given more time to comply with the regulations? Could the EPA have at least talked with company officials before 380 workers had to lose their jobs?
But it might not be too late for some sort of action. FirstEnergy has announced it won’t actually close the plants until October, and PJM, the regional power grid operator, still has to approve the shutdowns. It’s possible PJM could say the area doesn’t have enough power with the shutdowns and order FirstEnergy to continue operating the plants.
It’s probably not likely, but who knows for sure?
The point is that someone should try and make sure that at least all the options have been exhausted before those 380 jobs are lost for good. It’s certainly worth a try, anyway.