COLLIERS — The company behind a natural gas fired power plant proposed for Brooke County has announced those plans have been dropped.

Amber Vineyard, a spokesperson for Brooke County Power ESC, in a press release, stated that due to “changing conditions in the energy and financial markets,” the company won’t proceed in securing a $5.5 million loan offered by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.”

Vineyard said leaders behind the project are “evaluating alternative options to move forward,” noting the company “had worked hand in hand with the state’s development office and local elected officials and appreciates the strong partnership that had been created.”

She said supporters included leaders of Brooke County government, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, West Virginia Affiliated Construction Trades, Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia and West Virginia Oil and Gas Association.

Brooke County Power Chief Executive Officer Andrew Dorn said, “The external perception of a challenging climate in West Virginia has added to the difficult investment sector that changed drastically since the summer when (developers of) the project initially approached the state’s development authority about a loan guarantee.”

“The loan was to fund a letter of credit that guaranteed the interconnection improvements that the grid would need for the construction of the new natural gas power plant.”

Dorn referred to a $5.6 million loan guarantee that would have involved the state assuming the debt for a $5.6 million private loan for the project should its developers be unable to repay it. Local leaders have described the guarantee as a formality that would have encouraged investors to support the project.

After Gov. Jim Justice raised questions about the project, the state economic development authority dropped the matter from its agenda.

But the Brooke County Commission recruited state legislators and leaders of local and state trade and industrial associations to urge the state board to reconsider and in September, it approved a $5.5 million direct loan for the project.

Justice had questioned why the company needed the loan and whether labor and natural gas for the plant would be supplied locally.

Plans had called for the plant to be built near Tent Church Road and Quinn Lane on property near Western Pennsylvania that once was included in the Cross Creek Wildlife Management Area and consume $177 million per year in natural gas from a pipeline connected to the Rover Pipeline in Pennsylvania.

Brooke County Power, an affiliate of the Buffalo, N.Y. based Energy Solutions Consortium, had entered into a 30-year agreement to make in lieu of tax payments of $433,000 per year to the county and $167,000 per year to the school district.

Tim Ennis, president of the Brooke County Commission, said while the plant would have generated additional revenue for the county, “We were mainly interested in the jobs it would bring.”

Officials with Brooke County Power estimated more than 1,000 laborers would be needed to build the plant, which would employ 20 to 30 full-time personnel in its operation.

The company’s application with the state Public Service Commission stated it expected 75 percent of the builders to be local.

Brooke County Power officials said the plant would have a $1.25 billion economic impact for West Virginia during the construction phase and a $440 million economic impact annually to Brooke County and the surrounding area.

Ennis said he’s not optimistic the project will be revisited in Brooke County.

“This was the third location they looked at in Brooke County,” he said, noting sites in Beech Bottom and the Highland Hills area of Follansbee also were eyed.

“It certainly looks as if it’s over,” Ennis said.

County Commissioner Stacey Wise said, “A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into this and we’re just very disappointed.”

She and the other commissioners said officials with ESC haven’t indicated plans to build elsewhere.

It’s not clear whether plans to build a plant in Harrison County, W.Va., launched around the same time as the Brooke County facility, have been scrapped.

County Commissioner A.J. Thomas said he believes market conditions were the deciding factor but feels the governor’s initial response didn’t help.

Asked whether the commission would welcome a proposal for another power plant, Thomas said, “We are open to economic development all of the time.”

(Scott can be contacted at wscott@heraldstaronline.com.)