While some of you may be aware, and others not, there is a group of communities east of the NKY / Cincinnati area that are under a great deal of stress due to the potential closing of 2 power plants on the Ohio River. The plants are located in Aberdeen, Ohio, directly across from Maysville, KY and Manchester, Ohio upstream from Aberdeen. These 2 plants employ close to 1,000 people on a daily basis and countless other small businesses that provide goods and services to these sites.

 

In November of this year, a meeting to review the Electric Security Plan (ESP) with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission was held and at that meeting, questions were raised about the economic viability / stability of the sites, as well as the projected life expectancy. Utilities are required to file an ESP to demonstrate their reliability and economic viability for continued operation. Information to the public from the meeting indicates that "no decision has been made" about the closing of the plants, however....all current information and future budgetary planning points to a closure of these sites in the near future.

 

The impact of 2 plant closures, affecting over 1,000 people, in a region of the country already hit hard by the war on coal, will have a potentially devastating impact on the local economy. Within the gates themselves, rumors float on a daily basis about what steps may occur to "save" these sites. Manchester Local School District receives 70% of it's funding form DPL Power sites. Unfortunately, most already know that the environmental regulations and cost to operate far outweigh the market forces driving a need for power. All in all, these 2 sites are capable of producing 2,900 MW of power in a market that is being heavily pressured by the relatively inexpensive cost of natural gas.

 

Ultimately this situation is more a matter of "when" rather than "what if". Numerous coal plants have already ceased to operate in the United States, although not many of the shuttered plants are in as close a proximity as these 2 sites, hence the larger economic impact closure brings to the multiple communities where the employees live.

 

It is likely that these 2 plants will cease to operate by June 2018, leaving a hole in an already ravaged localized economy. While no data exists so far about the projected impact, rest assured that these closures will have consequences for our neighbors and reach farther into the supporting economies than we likely can forsee.

 

Closure of DP&L plants has been raised | Local | maysville-online.com

While some of you may be aware, and others not, there is a group of communities east of the NKY / Cincinnati area that are under a great deal of stress due to the potential closing of 2 power plants on the Ohio River. The plants are located in Aberdeen, Ohio, directly across from Maysville, KY and Manchester, Ohio upstream from Aberdeen. These 2 plants employ close to 1,000 people on a daily basis and countless other small businesses that provide goods and services to these sites.

 

In November of this year, a meeting to review the Electric Security Plan (ESP) with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission was held and at that meeting, questions were raised about the economic viability / stability of the sites, as well as the projected life expectancy. Utilities are required to file an ESP to demonstrate their reliability and economic viability for continued operation. Information to the public from the meeting indicates that "no decision has been made" about the closing of the plants, however....all current information and future budgetary planning points to a closure of these sites in the near future.

 

The impact of 2 plant closures, affecting over 1,000 people, in a region of the country already hit hard by the war on coal, will have a potentially devastating impact on the local economy. Within the gates themselves, rumors float on a daily basis about what steps may occur to "save" these sites. Manchester Local School District receives 70% of it's funding form DPL Power sites. Unfortunately, most already know that the environmental regulations and cost to operate far outweigh the market forces driving a need for power. All in all, these 2 sites are capable of producing 2,900 MW of power in a market that is being heavily pressured by the relatively inexpensive cost of natural gas.

 

Ultimately this situation is more a matter of "when" rather than "what if". Numerous coal plants have already ceased to operate in the United States, although not many of the shuttered plants are in as close a proximity as these 2 sites, hence the larger economic impact closure brings to the multiple communities where the employees live.

 

It is likely that these 2 plants will cease to operate by June 2018, leaving a hole in an already ravaged localized economy. While no data exists so far about the projected impact, rest assured that these closures will have consequences for our neighbors and reach farther into the supporting economies than we likely can forsee.

 

Closure of DP&L plants has been raised | Local | maysville-online.com

 

I live in the aforementioned area, having sold our business this year, I can guarantee that closing these two plants would be disastrous to the economy.

On a related note, NPR had a discussion on Black Lung the other day. I had assumed that this disease was pretty much a thing of the past, but no. It has sky-rocketed in the past decade or so and even with that, it is thought that it is under reported, as people fear risking their jobs. They had interviews with people suffering from the disease. So sad to hear them suffer.

 

They said that the coal was harder to mine nowadays and requires cutting through more layers of rock to get to. As a result, respirators get choked up fairly often and require being taken off to clean, thus resulting in the breathing in of articles.

 

I hope that some companies wanting to invest in the labor forces formally used for mining will come to some of these areas and provide jobs.

I live in the aforementioned area, having sold our business this year, I can guarantee that closing these two plants would be disastrous to the economy.

 

While I'm unsure if it would be enough to crumble Maysville/Aberdeen if the plant closes, I'm all but certain it would be the end of Manchester, OH. Cute little town, too.

Point of clarification. The East Kentucky Power Spurlock station is on the Kentucky side of the river; just west of Maysville. It has a Maysville address.

 

The loss of these plants would be significant. Although back in the day, something on the order of $70 to $90 million in tobacco was sold in Maysville per year; and the town still thrives. Much the town's economic success (and I'm not saying it's all rosy) is due to its location on the Ohio River. Two bridges, and not another for 50 miles in either direction.

 

The Dawg is correct. Manchester and Adams County will suffer the worst.

While I'm unsure if it would be enough to crumble Maysville/Aberdeen if the plant closes, I'm all but certain it would be the end of Manchester, OH. Cute little town, too.

 

There are a lot of Bracken Co. people who work at DP&L. Would be hard on our county after losing so much income from tobacco. Sad to see once thriving tobacco and dairy farms to the way they are now. Would it be possible and feasible to convert these plants to natural gas?