Ohio Citizen Action

Martinsville Mayor Kim Adkins

MARTINSVILLE, VA — “Martinsville Mayor Kim Adkins wants city officials and electric customers alike to have the same information about the city’s participation in American Municipal Power (AMP) generation projects…

She said she understands that city residents have a lot of concerns about the city’s participation in the AMP projects. ‘The council shares those concerns, just like the citizens,’ she said. ‘I share the concerns’ as well. She said she wants officials ‘to give the city a complete picture of how the city acquires electricity.’ ‘We need to get AMP to explain every dollar’ that so far has been spent on the projects, said Councilman Danny Turner.

— Mickey Powell, Martinsville Bulletin

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COLUMBUS — “People who pay their electricity bills to Columbus or as many as 47 other Ohio cities and villages will soon help American Municipal Power pay an $850,000 fine for air pollution.

The Columbus-based utility, a nonprofit cooperative that resells electricity to about 80 municipal electric systems in Ohio, agreed to pay the fine in May to help settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The suit alleged that the Richard H. Gorsuch plant, along the Ohio River near Marietta, has violated the Clean Air Act since at least 1991.”

— Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch

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American Municipal Power's Richard H. Gorsuch Generating Station near Marietta.

MARIETTA — “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed suit against AMP in April 2009, alleging the coal-fired plant violated pollution standards for years through improper upgrades and maintenance on the nearly 60-year-old facility. According to the suit, the work violated the spirit of the U.S. Clean Air Act, which was aimed at reducing emissions by phasing out the nation’s oldest and dirtiest power plants.

The Clean Air Act requires older plants to undergo a permitting process for any major modification. Any improvements would subject the plant to the same regulations as newer facilities.

AMP-Ohio maintains that the plant remained in compliance with its operating permits.

‘It’s important to understand that when considering modifications at a generating facility, the (EPA) is not only looking at whether the modifications actually increased emissions, but also whether they had the potential to increase emissions,’ AMP Vice President of Generation Operations Mike Perry says in the company’s release. ‘AMP has responsibly operated the facility since taking ownership, and we have made a number of improvements at the facility that have actually reduced emissions.’”

— Brad Bauer and Evan Bevins, Parkersburg News and Sentinel

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AKRON — “American Municipal Power must close its 213-megawatt Richard H. Gorsuch Station by Dec. 31, 2012, but the company announced Wednesday that it intends to shut it down by Dec. 15 this year to resolve violations of the federal Clean Air Act. A proposed settlement was announced late Tuesday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Justice Department…

The closing had been expected for several years because AMP had earlier concluded that it made business sense to close the aging Gorsuch plant rather than to spend the money to install scrubbers to clean the plant’s emissions. The nonprofit utility opted to provide alternate power to its members.”

— Bob Downing, Akron Beacon Journal

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MARTINSVILLE, VA — “American Municipal Power (AMP), from which Martinsville buys wholesale electricity, still may build a power plant at an Ohio location where a similar project recently was discontinued.

Meanwhile, AMP member cities, including Martinsville, continue to try and find out how much money they owe toward the halted project…

A memo that the Painesville City Council in Ohio received on April 12 from Painesville City Manager Rita McMahon regarding the April 7 meeting states that ‘the final determination of costs will be complicated by complex legal issues.’

McMahon did not return calls for comment on the memo, a copy of which was provided to the Martinsville Bulletin by Turner. He said he received his copy by e-mail from Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, a nonprofit, grassroots consumer advocacy organization.”

— Mickey Powell, Martinsville Bulletin

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Racine Mayor J. Scott Hill (left) and US Congressman Charlie Wilson. (Beth Sergent/Pomeroy Daily Sentinel)

POMEROY — “Two weeks ago while US Congressman Charlie Wilson was flying aboard Air Force One with President Barack Obama, the topic of how to keep Meigs County as a viable site for American Municipal Power was a topic of conversation, according to Wilson.

AMP has said it’s considering redesigning the Letart Falls site into a natural gas-fired power plant. However, for all the advantages the site had as a coal-fired power plant, there is a major hitch in the plan to convert the design to natural gas – namely, no gas line. Wilson said he has asked for $17 million in federal funds to run a natural gas line to the proposed plant, putting it at the top of his list for appropriations in his 12-county district.

Wilson said he received a favorable response from President Obama about the situation and two days after the conversation aboard Air Force One received a phone call from US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu saying the $17 million will be the top appropriation from the US Department of Energy in an upcoming spending bill.”

— Beth Sergent, Pomeroy Daily Sentinel

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COLUMBUS — “American Municipal Power announced Friday that it will move forward with further analysis of constructing a 400-700 megawatt natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) generating facility in Meigs County, Ohio, though the future of the potential plant remains far from certain.

AMP said the announcement of the study came after action taken at a meeting of the American Municipal Power Generating Station (AMPGS) participants; participants who initially signed up to finance the coal-fired version of AMPGS proposed for Letart Falls. After the meeting, AMP announced the Meigs County site’s status as the primary site for a self-build option is dependent upon the successful final negotiation of appropriate tax abatements as well as economic and infrastructure incentives.”

— Beth Sergent, Point Pleasant Register

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MARTINSVILLE, VA — “It could be more than a year before Martinsville officials learn how much the city owes toward the development of a coal-fired power plant project in Ohio that was discontinued in November.

American Municipal Power (AMP) spent roughly $200 million on developing the project, which was canceled due to high cost estimates by contractors. Martinsville’s prorated share of the cost was estimated at $2.08 million. City Manager Clarence Monday said he understands it could be 12 to 18 months before AMP can determine what the city’s exact share will be. ‘I doubt if we will have that information within a year,’ said Mayor Kathy Lawson. ‘That is my gut feeling. When you’re involved with lawyers and litigation, it usually is a slow process.’”

—Mickey Powell, Martinsville Bulletin

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A $416 million facelift on the Cannelton Locks and Dam began in May. When the project is finished in 2013, the hydroelectric facility there is expected to generate 84 megawatts of power.

TOLEDO – “‘Trust me,’ said Marc Gerken, AMP president and chief executive officer. ‘It’s fun running a hydro plant compared to a coal plant.’”

“[Napoleon City Manager Jon Bisher, who also chairs AMP's board of directors] said he was disappointed by the backlash AMP received over the Meigs County project. He said some environmentalists who once viewed AMP as an ally for helping to bring wind power to Ohio never accepted AMP’s plans to mitigate the proposed coal-fired power plant’s impact with state-of-the-art pollution controls. To environmentalists, the Meigs County project was just another dirty coal plant in the making, Mr. Bisher said. Through their campaigns, activists enlisted people to flood mailboxes. Mr. Bisher said he received what seemed like 100 letters a day from opponents. ‘I will tell you my life has gotten considerably easier from an environmentalist point of view,’ he said. ‘You certainly don’t get those letters when you’re doing a run-of-the-river hydro project.’”

“AMP maintains its decision to pull away from the Meigs County project was in response to changing market conditions and increased labor costs — not pressure from environmentalists. ‘It was totally a numbers thing,’ Mr. Gerken said.”

- Tom Henry, Toledo Blade

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