Help to Urge AMP-Ohio to Cancel its Proposed Coal-fired Power Plant
American Municipal Power-Ohio (AMP-Ohio) has proposed to build a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant in southeastern Ohio in Meigs County. It’s called a “clean coal” plant, but there is nothing clean about it. This is an old-fashioned pulverized coal burning plant, just like the ones already believed responsible for much of the asthma, emphysema and heart disease that so many Ohioans suffer from in this region.
AMP-Ohio admits the new plant will release 20 million pounds of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the air each year. Residents in Meigs County already suffer from health effects linked in part to pollution from four neighboring coal-fired power plants: American Electric Power’s Philip Sporn, Mountaineer and JM Gavin plants, and Ohio Valley Electric Corporation’s Kyger Creek plant. Mercury, another by-product of the burning of coal, can cause permanent damage to the brain and kidneys, especially in infants and children, as well as wildlife.
Coal plants are a dirty business. Fine particles can penetrate deep into the lungs. What’s more, AMP-Ohio is planning on using coal that comes from Central Appalachia, which includes coal from mountaintop removal sites and underground mines. Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining where entire mountains are literally blown up—devastating communities throughout Appalachia, polluting drinking water and destroying rivers. Coal companies have already destroyed 470 mountaintops, and they’re just getting started.
In addition to the environmental and health impacts of the proposed coal-fired power plant, the cost of this project has skyrocketed. The original estimated price tag was $1.2 billion. AMP-Ohio released new numbers in November, with estimates projected at $3.3 billion, plus financing. Costs could increase even more if federal regulations to control carbon dioxide are enacted. The proposed contract is a take-or-pay contract, where ratepayers must pay for the plant for 50 years, no matter how high the costs go.
If AMP-Ohio cancels this plant, they will not be alone. At least 38 proposed coal plants have been canceled across the country in the past two years by utilities and public officials who have decided to seek cleaner alternatives. Several AMP-Ohio communities including Oberlin, St. Clairsville, Westerville and Yellow Springs have decided not to participate in this project. In February, Cleveland City Council agreed to purchase 80 megawatts of power for 50 years from this proposed coal plant. Ohio Citizen Action is encouraging communities that signed on to this project to reject the contract because of the risk, expense and pollution involved.
In the past two months, 5,837 Ohioans have written to AMP-Ohio’s board of directors urging them to drop their plans to build this coal-fired power plant.
To contact the board members, write to: Ivan Henderson, Commissioner, Cleveland Public Power, 1300 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114; Jon Bisher, Vice Chairman, AMP-Ohio, City Manager, City of Napoleon, 255 West Riverview, Napoleon, OH 43545; and Chris Easton, Treasurer, AMP-Ohio, Director of Public Service, City of Wadsworth, 120 Maple Street, Wadsworth, OH 44281.
For more information, contact Ohio Citizen Action at 216-861-5200 or visit www.ohiocitizen.org