WV coal power plant to shut down--190 jobs lost

[DINGO Joe]

https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/firstenergy-will-deactivate-pleasants-power-station-if-no-buyer-is/article_be513a39-27b5-55dc-b916-eaf1e99364ca.html

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Somebody could still buy the plant but that's unlikely.  Maybe, Trump could buy it, but that might crimp his hooker hush money cash flow. 

Once upon a time WV and Appalachian coal in general exported excess electricity to points eastward.  The profits from doing that subsidize WV consumers electric rates and kept them low.  But the advent of the Marcellus and Utica natural gas plays changed everything.  Points East decided they could get cheaper electricity by building NG plants and it's worked.  They drank WV milkshake.  Too bad.

[Gass3268]

It's a bummer that these folks are going to loose their jobs, hopefully they can transition into something else, but it's exciting to see coal die. Natural gas isn't, but it's much better than coal.

[DINGO Joe]

This has been going on for several years, though Ohio is getting in on the act now.  Pretty much everybody but WV has built new NG plants.  Too bad.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It appears that FERC's earlier rejection wasn't because the plant was coal-powered but because the application was based on a narrowly-tailored RFP for generating capacity that only the Pleasants plant could meet, thereby by justifying a sweetheart-deal between the subsidiaries.

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/business/ferc-denies-pleasants-power-station-transfer/article_d5139806-9584-55e9-b6fd-755af0d0a951.html

That First Energy waited to announce the closure until the WVPSC required the proposed deal be altered to get approval suggests that if the WVPSC had approved it, then First Energy would have tried submitting a revised RFP to the FERC.

In any case, the rejection by both agencies wasn't because of coal, at least not directly, but because the deal had some financial shenanigans that would have hurt consumers.

[Indy Texas]

Perhaps eventually these people will get it through their heads that there was never a "War on Coal."

Coal is failing on its own.

[HillGoose]

well good, the power of the free market, people!

[ProgressiveCanadian]

But Trump said he won the war on coal! Is it possible that he told a lie?

[Landslide Lyndon]

I bet if you ask these people they'll say it's all the fault of those kneeling NFL players and those #MeToo bitches.

[ProudModerate2]

But Trump said he won the war on coal! Is it possible that he told a lie?

trump, lie?
How can that be?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

But Trump said he won the war on coal! Is it possible that he told a lie?

trump, lie?
How can that be?

Granted, lying usually does require having some idea of what the truth is.

[DINGO Joe]

It appears that FERC's earlier rejection wasn't because the plant was coal-powered but because the application was based on a narrowly-tailored RFP for generating capacity that only the Pleasants plant could meet, thereby by justifying a sweetheart-deal between the subsidiaries.

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/business/ferc-denies-pleasants-power-station-transfer/article_d5139806-9584-55e9-b6fd-755af0d0a951.html

That First Energy waited to announce the closure until the WVPSC required the proposed deal be altered to get approval suggests that if the WVPSC had approved it, then First Energy would have tried submitting a revised RFP to the FERC.

In any case, the rejection by both agencies wasn't because of coal, at least not directly, but because the deal had some financial shenanigans that would have hurt consumers.

It's because Appalachian coal can't compete with Appalachian gas when there are modern NGCC plants in place.

[DINGO Joe]

Perhaps eventually these people will get it through their heads that there was never a "War on Coal."

Coal is failing on its own.

I'm gonna say they'll keep thumping their chest and yelling Coal! to the end of their days.

[ProudModerate2]

Perhaps eventually these people will get it through their heads that there was never a "War on Coal."
Coal is failing on its own.

I'm gonna say they'll keep thumping their chest and yelling Coal! to the end of their days.

Yep.
The question is .... what generation of theirs (in WV) will finally wake-up and realize the truth.

[Kingpoleon]

"I will be the greatest jobs President God ever created."

It's possible that I'm misunderstanding this quote, but I don't think Trump supporting coal jobs would be him supporting the greatest jobs.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I've been watching Oxyana... it's so heartbreaking.  And to think, the GOP thinks they will save WV... what a joke.  Yeah, Republicans... what WV needs is some regulation and tax cuts... that'll fix it... you f**king dumb *******.

[henster]

The sad thing is that politicians will still be talking about coal in WV 20 years from now. An endless cycle of pandering and gullible voters.

[pbrower2a]

Coal is becoming less economical to use even without environmental concerns, and coal-burning power plants are getting increasingly costly to operate. I just heard that a coal-burning power plant in Lansing, Michigan is being retired as uneconomical to operate. Michigan is not a 'coal' state.   

Market forces direct most economic choices, and politicians who seek to circumvent those for political reasons need to contemplate the consequences of  abandoning the market mechanism. The desire to win certain voters in an upcoming election or get campaign funds is inadequate.

Humanitarian considerations are the sole grounds for rejecting the working of a free market. 

[HAnnA MArin County]

Vote for a con man and you get conned. Learn before you vote next time, West Virginia.

[pbrower2a]

Vote for a con man and you get conned. Learn before you vote next time, West Virginia.

This autumn I saw a disapproval of only 48% for the President in West Virginia. He can sing the hymn in church, only to act very different from the lesson offered in the sermon.

He may have suggested that if he became President he would do wonders for coal miners by doing wonders for mine owners. I think he cares as much about minders as he cares about stray cats -- nothing at all. I see a pattern in which the people who best know Donald Trump despise him, and that Americans are beginning to know him all too well. It's telling that his approval ratings have been consistently awful in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, where he is known best for his personality. Ordinarily politicians fit the political culture of their home 'bases', but the more that a community resembles New York City, the more they dislike him. They know him as the landlord capable only of squeezing more rent out of them.

In the more rural parts of America he is beginning to sound like the obnoxious d@mnyankee city-slicker that he is. Maybe  the word "Yankee" vanishes in such undeniably-Yankee states as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa -- but you get the idea.     

[Rookie Yinzer]

I bet if you ask these people they'll say it's all the fault of those kneeling NFL players and those #MeToo bitches.

And them damn Mexicans!

[here2view]

Interesting to see the almost complete lack of blue avatars in this thread.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The sad thing is that politicians will still be talking about coal in WV 20 years from now. An endless cycle of pandering and gullible voters.

I mean one does have empathy no? People still talk about the coalfields in the North of England after Thatcher and Major took them out; and understandably so.

[DINGO Joe]

The sad thing is that politicians will still be talking about coal in WV 20 years from now. An endless cycle of pandering and gullible voters.

I mean one does have empathy no? People still talk about the coalfields in the North of England after Thatcher and Major took them out; and understandably so.

What do they talk about?

[DINGO Joe]

Interesting to see the almost complete lack of blue avatars in this thread.

Now that you mention it, it is quite sad that none came by to offer their thoughts and prayers to the coal man. 

[Hollywood756]

[quote author=The Unbearable Invicibility of Hillary Clinton
I'm gonna say they'll keep thumping their chest and yelling Coal! to the end of their days.
[/quote]

and the unfortunate truth is that, because of this, the end of their days is going to arrive much sooner than an american should expect.