American Electric Power (AEP) says it will close a Giles County coal-fired power plant, and several others, to comply with stricter new federal air pollution standards.
The Giles County plant is in Glen Lyn. Appalachian Power (APCo) placed that plant on "extended startup mode" in 2010. That means the plant is full functional during APCo's three highest demand months of the year (January, July, August), according to APCo spokesman John Shepelwich. The rest of the year, the Glen Lyn plant remains on standby.
A second Virginia plant in Cleveland (Russell County) would lose one of its three units. The other two units would convert to natural gas, Shepelwich said.
Three of the plant closings on AEP's list are in West Virginia. Shepelwich says each plant produces electricity used by APCo customers.
The closings are scheduled for the end of 2014.
The plan drew outrage directed at the EPA from Virginia and West Virginia Congressmen, over the loss of jobs the move would cause.
"This is what I have been talking about. More burdensome EPA regulations, more jobs lost," wrote 9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) in an e-mailed statement. "The cost of complying with these regulations is closing one plant in the 9th District and reducing generation at another. Why can't the EPA recognize that their actions kill jobs and destroy the economy not only in Southwest Virginia, but nationwide? These regulations should not be implemented unless they are absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, many of the EPA's recent actions are geared for small gains in the environment at the large cost of hundreds of jobs."
West Virginia Senator, and former Governor, Joe Manchin (D) told the Associated Press that the EPA should be reined in and prevents from what he called "overstepping their bounds."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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