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CHARLESTON -- Gov. Jim Justice is directly pleading with a power company to buy the coal-fired Pleasants Power Station at St. Marys.
Justice said Wednesday he has spoken with First Energy CEO John W. Somerhalder about the company purchasing the electric-generating plant slated for closure in June by Energy Harbor.
"I've spoken directly to the CEO of First Energy. I really really appreciate that conversation. My urging and message is as simple as it could be, and that is just this, some way somehow this plant has got to remain open," Justice said. "And it's got to remain open as a coal-fired power plant."
The plant has been upgraded so much it is in the best shape among coal-fired plants in West Virginia, Justice said.
Shutting the plant down will impact local schools and government revenues, employees who work there and the miners who dig the coal burned at the plant, he said.
"There has got to be a solution here," he said. "Absolutely all of us have got to work together to try to find a positive solution."
Steam coal costs have dropped from about $400 a ton to about $90 a ton, Justice, who owns coal companies, said.
"Our coal producers need this plant to run," he said. "I'll do anything I can possibly, possibly do."
The state Senate and the House of Delegates have passed resolutions encouraging Mon Power, part of First Energy, to buy the plant.
Pleasants Power Station went into service in 1979, producing about 9% of the state's electrical generation capacity. It's economic impact on the county is $128 million a year and generates about $1.75 million in taxes each year for the county and schools.
"I promise you just this, the Senate, the House and myself are going to do any and everything we possibly can to make this become a reality to where this plant works for many, many years to come and runs as a coal-fire power plant," the governor said.
In other topics, Dr. Jeff Coben, interim director of the Department of Health and Human Resources, said the state has made more than $2 million in payments this week to foster families. A regular payment schedule will return next month, he said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection and Union Carbide at Institute have reached an agreement to reduce ethylene oxide emissions to amounts 50 to 100 times below federal standards, Scott Mandirola, a deputy secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, said. The plant is in compliance with regulations, he said.
The agreement calls for Carbide to significantly decrease allowable emission limits for ethylene oxide, find and fix leaks to 1,000 times lower than currently required, develop a screening program for rail cars containing ethylene oxide and continue working with the Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. EPA to improve monitoring of ethylene oxide emissions.
Justice said he will sign without hesitation the bill allowing people to legally carry concealed firearms on college campuses.
"I stand solid with our Second Amendment," he said.
However, Justice wasn't as committed to a bill separating the Department of Health and Human Resources into three agencies. House Bill 2006 is going to the governor's desk following passage by the Senate in a 33-1 vote.
"When it makes its way to my desk, I will approach it in a very positive way," he said.