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Coal v. Gas on Day 1 at the Commission · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: An evidentiary hearing began Thursday before the Public Service Commission
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  Speaker 1: as regulators consider whether First Energy should be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: build a twelve hundred megawant natural gas plant in Monongelia County.
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  Speaker 1: The case has become one of the most watched energy
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  Speaker 1: proceedings in the state because it puts a long standing
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  Speaker 1: debate squarely on the record, coal or natural gas. The
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  Speaker 1: United Mine Workers of America has intervened, and that's appropriate.
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  Speaker 1: The union represents miners whose livelihoods depend on coal. They
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  Speaker 1: deserve a seat at the table, But interveners have a
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  Speaker 1: burden they must support their positions with evidence. During testimony,
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  Speaker 1: UMWA President Brian Sanson suggested that building a natural gas
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  Speaker 1: plant beside the existing Fort Martin coal plant would ultimately
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  Speaker 1: lead to Fort Martin's closure. A serious claim, but one
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  Speaker 1: at least on Thursday, that wasn't backed by conclusive evidence
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  Speaker 1: in the record, and that raises an important question. If
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  Speaker 1: the Fort Martin coal plant continues providing value in PJAM
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  Speaker 1: through energy production or capacity, why would First Energy voluntarily
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  Speaker 1: retire an asset when its entire case for new generation
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  Speaker 1: is based on growing demand. Companies don't usually close productive
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  Speaker 1: plants because they need more electricity, they build more because
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  Speaker 1: they do. Coal plants certainly retire, but usually because of age,
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  Speaker 1: operating costs, environmental regulations, or changing market conditions, not simply
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  Speaker 1: because another unit that uses a different fuel is built nearby.
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  Speaker 1: The Union also argued that failing to protect coal could
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  Speaker 1: harm West Virginia's economy and severance tax collections. That's an
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  Speaker 1: understandable concern, especially when you consider who the UMWA represents.
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  Speaker 1: The commit mis responsibility is not to protect one fuel
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  Speaker 1: from another. Its job is to determine whether the project
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  Speaker 1: satisfies the legal standard for public convenience and necessity based
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  Speaker 1: on the evidence presented. There are plenty of legitimate questions
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  Speaker 1: for First Energy to answer whether the plant is needed,
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  Speaker 1: whether demand forecasts are accurate, who pays, and what the
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  Speaker 1: community impacts will be. Those are exactly the issues the
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  Speaker 1: Commission should decide, not whether one West Virginia industry deserves
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  Speaker 1: protection from another, but whether the evidence supports the project
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  Speaker 1: and whether the market says it's needed.