A Virginia utility regulator says Appalachian Power must continue to study the early retirement of two West Virginia coal plants.

Appalachian Power, for now, intends to operate the John Amos and Mountaineer power plants through 2040.

Appalachian Power’s Virginia customers receive power from the Amos and Mountaineer plants.

It had asked Virginia regulators for permission to stop studying if early retirement of the plants could save electricity customers money.

A senior hearing examiner for Virginia’s State Corporation Commission last week said no.

Michael D. Thomas ruled Friday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules on carbon dioxide emissions and wastewater treatment raise questions about the future operating costs of both plants.

The company, as well as the attorneys general of West Virginia and Virginia, have mounted a legal challenge to the EPA rules.

The mounting costs of operating the coal plants has come under scrutiny in both states. A third plant, Mitchell, supplies power to Kentucky and West Virginia customers.

The three plants operate less than half the time, and they lose money when they do, according to recent testimony to the West Virginia Public Service Commission.

The Sierra Club has sued the PSC over its 2021 directive for the plants to operate at least 69 percent of the time. They rarely come close, and few U.S. plants do.

Appalachian Power officials have told the PSC that they have too much coal on site at the three plants, and they’ve made the decision to burn it even when it was not economically justified.

Appalachian Power is asking its West Virginia customers for a 17 percent base rate increase. The PSC has put any potential rate increase on hold until next year.

Testimony in a federal court case challenging a more stringent wastewater treatment rule show that Appalachian Power has evaluated the cost of compliance.

Gary Spitznogle, vice president of environmental services for Appalachian Power parent American Electric Power, told the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the rule would force the retirement of Amos and Mountaineer in 2034. If the rule stands, the company would have to make a decision by the end of next year to upgrade the plants at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars or shut them down.

The rule’s opponents have asked the court to block it while it resolves the legal issues.

BUCKHANNON – Buckhannon’s Armory Pharmaceuticals sells its products to all 62 dispensaries across West Virginia.A representative from Armory Pharmaceutical, Alys Freeman, attended the Sept. 3 Rotary Club of Buckhannon-Upshur meeting to discuss the state’s policies on medical marijuana and the […]

Following more than five hours of public comment that stretched into early Wednesday morning, the Morgantown City Council approved a measure expanding its laws targeting homeless people who camp in public. Council members voted four to three in favor of the ban. 

The ordinance prohibits camping on any public property — including streets, parks and trails — and also prohibits storing personal property in public areas. Second and third violations of the law are punishable by fines of $200 and $300 and/or 30 days in jail, respectively. 

Morgantown already had an ordinance banning camping or temporary lodging within a park without the written consent of the city manager. 

Councilwoman Louise “Weez” Michael originally proposed the ban during the regular July 2 meeting of city council, just days after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding an Oregon city’s public camping ban. In the June 28 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that ordinances by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, prohibiting homeless people from sleeping within the city limits do not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 

During the July meeting, Michael said she believes homeless people sleeping in public “has become an immediate and serious safety and health issue that we can no longer wish the issue to go away. … We need to send a message that this city will no longer tolerate nefarious behaviors.” A first reading of the legislation was approved with a 4-3 vote on Aug. 20. 

The vote, which took place around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, followed public comments from more than 25 speakers, all but a couple of who opposed the ban. Molly Kennedy, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, told the council that the human rights organization would be watching closely if the ordinance passed. An attorney for the organization told West Virginia Watch in July that despite the Grants Pass decision, there are other constitutional challenges that could be made against camping bans. 

Elrick Rose, of Morgantown, was one of at least two homeless people who spoke against the ban during the meeting.

“When I heard about this ordinance, it made me feel afraid,” he told the council. “More afraid than I normally do every night. Being homeless isn’t a choice. We’re not out there because we want to shoot up. We’re not out there because we’re lazy.”

He went on to say that the ordinance being discussed makes him feel like he’s not valued or welcome in the city and that the ordinance would make challenges against him “insurmountable.” 

Dozens of cities across the country have passed or considered similar camping bans in the two months after the Supreme Court’s decision. The new bans come after the United States saw an increase of 12% last year, the highest reported level since the US started doing “point in time” counts of homeless people in 2007.

The cities of Wheeling and Parkersburg also passed ordinances banning public camping last year. 

Morgantown’s law is effective 30 days after the bill passes, provided the city has an emergency shelter that’s open and accepting new people. 

A representative of Mountain State Justice said Tuesday there would be a petition for a referendum on the ordinance to have it either repealed or put to a vote during the city’s election next year.