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Proposed additional Longview Power Plant at Ft. Martin, Monongalia Co., WV
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 06 Feb '20

06 Feb '20

1. MON VALLEY CLEAN AIR COALITION, Monongalia County, WV NOTE: The following 13 items were submitted to the Monongalia County Commission at the regular weekly meeting on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 by Duane Nichols 1. The WV Public Service Commission held a Public Hearingon the proposed Longview II power plant this past Thursday in Charleston.Public comment was limited to only 2 minutes. The local newspaper indicated that Duane Nichols of Maidsville spokeabout the traffic flows on WV Route 53 thru the Ft. Martin community. 2. 2. Duane Nichols is from Stewartstown, but was speakingfor many residents of Maidsville. Actually,Stewartstown, Bakers Ridge, Pt. Marion and other areas are downwind of the twocoal fired plants and gets more than their share of the pollution. Now a third plant is proposed but is notneeded. 3. 3. The lawyer for Longview stated to the Public ServiceCommission that the “non-binding term sheet,” which is the financial arrangement of a PILOT agreement from the Monongalia CountyCommission, is actually a binding document; that it is official and formal andcommits the County to the project. SinceI was not aware of when or where the Mon. Commission had approved this project, Iwas in a state of shock. 4. 4.Since last Thursday, I have learned more about thetraffic in Maidsville and on the Ft. Martin hill. Listen to this: there are approx.300 diesel coal trucks per day hauling Pennsylvania coal up the hill toLongview I; --- there are special diesel trucks hauling Longview I flyash downthe hill and off to a remote facility, often after dark and perhaps during thenight; --- next, there are diesel trucks hauling First Energy flyash from theFt. Martin power plant down to the old Humphrey mine site off WV Route 100; ---next there is employee traffic for the power plants, --- delivery trucks forthe power plants, ---and then resident traffic and school buses. (Now much more is being proposed.) 5. 5. This Commission is planning to permit hundreds ofvehicles MORE for Longview II construction employees AND the large scalemovement of heavy power plant equipment. The Longview CFO told the PublicService Commission that some traffic could be from the north if the Shannopin dockat the mouth of Dunkard Creek is utilized. In my opinion, this is unlikely. So the traffic issues are much muchgreater than we ever were aware. Ibelieve the residents of the Ft. Martin community deserve more considerationthan they have been given. 6. 6. Residents of the Ft. Martin community have complainedto the WV DOH, to the WV PSC, to the State Police, and indeed to thisCommission. Yet, these challenges keep getting worse. The residents of Ft. Martin can actually “feel”and hear the truck vibrations inside their homes. And, driving on Routes 53 and 100 is quitedangerous.(All this traffic is adding to the air pollution.) 7. 7. Longview submitted the following two items to thePublic Service Commission on January 17, 2020 regarding the public roads:PROPOSED CONDITION 8. “Applicant and their contractors and subcontractors,shall not block roads by changing shifts or heavy haul while school buses arescheduled to be on the roads within 1 mile of the site.” PROPOSED CONDITION 13. “Applicants will consult with the DOH onthe advisability and feasibility of constructing a right turn lane on the CR 53approach to the Project site.” This is a puzzle because the project site is tothe left. Further, right turns arealmost always of no concern since they do not cross on-coming traffic. [This isthe only traffic control item proposed.] 8. 8. NEW TOPIC. Longviewsubmitted application materials to the WV-PSC on September 12, 2019. Includedin Exhibit 2 on page 17, the last paragraph reads as follows: “To the east,along the new entrance road to the CCGT Facility, the foundation of a homesteadfarm house will be preserved when the access road is constructed through thisarea. In addition, one of the stormwater management ponds located near the farm house foundation will be convertedto a recreational pond. This area willbe developed with the addition of a pavilion with picnic tables, a walkingtrail, and baseball/softball field. Signage will be added for the walking trail. The new Project Park will be considered aspart of the CCGT Facility operational footprint. The Project Park will be open for bothCompany and community functions and events at times approved by theCompany. The homestead ruins will bepreserved and identified by signage. Trees and shrubs will be planted around the pavilion and along thewalking trail.” However, these proposalsare absent from the Proposed Conditions of Exhibit JLK-3 submitted on January17, 2020. 9. 9. Consider the existing Ft. Martin Grade School, an oldstructure on Route 53. It is locked tight,probably has not been opened for 20 years. What are the plans for this school building? Can we consider moving itto a location where it could safely be appreciated, perhaps the Mason-Dixon Park. There it could be looked after by responsiblepeople. 1 10. Theexisting Longview I coal conveyor could be relocated to the Ft. Martin hill,and with cooperation from First Energy, could be used to transfer coal from theRiver up to the Longview I power plant. Cooperation among the power companies over there would be necessary.This County Commission would serve the county well by facilitating cooperationamong the parties. 11. Regardingthe coal-fired 1400 MW Ft. Martin power plant. Coal arrives by railroad carsbut the ash is conveyed up the hill to Route 53. It is then trucked down the hill and ontoRoute 100 where it is dumped onto the old Humphrey mine property, if I amcorrect. Now this is very near the Monongahela River, so the surface runoff andgroundwater leachate can ultimately flow to the River. We should insist that this ash be disposed uptop as originally planned, somewhere on top of the hill or inPennsylvania. This would remove some ofthe trucks and dust on the Ft. Martin hill. 12. Dust from the trucks gets on the roadway anddries, then the traffic suspends it into the air as an aerosol where some itsettles out in yards and on the homes of the residents. Some residents keepboots available for walking in the muck at their mail-boxes. 13. Manyletters have been received at the PSC raising issues with a PILOT agreement.The PSC is not forwarding these to Monongalia County. And, I doubt seriously that the CountyCommission is giving them any consideration. PILOT agreements are quasi-legal,not having a firm foundation in law. So, any PILOT agreement should beprepared, negotiated and approved only with the full and open participation ofthe pubic citizens. (Further, an alternative site should be chosen or better yet, limit the project to an alternative energy project of solar cells.) Duane G. Nichols, MVCAC Coordinator, 330 Dream CatcherCircle, Stewartstown, WV 26508Date: February 5,2020. Nichols330(a)gmail.com; 304-216-5535. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> RE: W.V. PUBLIC SERVICECOMMISSION: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN,Longview Power II.Note: This Case will be open for comment until February 24th.Early comments are needed particularly with regard to whether the Ft. Martin site is right for another power plant. This new plant will generate some 4 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, adding to over 10 million already. A proposed agreement for property taxes in place of routinetaxes, called a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT), has been prepared by theMonongalia County Commission and submitted to Longview Power, LLC, for theirconsideration. This was done without the participation of the citizens of thecounty. A study and report of PILOTagreements in general and this one in particular has been completed by the WVCenter on Budget and Policy, as shown here: "PILOTAgreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at LongviewPower Plant" - West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, Ted Boettner,October 15, 2019 https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… A. Letters of Information, Support or Protest can bemailed to: Ms. Connie Graley, Executive Secretary, WV Public ServiceCommission, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, WV 25301. Specify the Case Numberand Title: Case 19-0890-E-CS-CN, Longview Power II. B. Comments Can Be Filed Electronically directly to theWV-PSC: Go to: WV Public Service Commission, choose “Submit a Comment,” choose “FormalCase,” enter the case number; click on the case number, enter the requestedinformation and your comment. Or, try the following link that may take you tothis same screen: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID… C. Comments May be Submitted Electronically to theMonongalia County Commission: https://monongaliacounty.gov/contact_us/index.php

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Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

From: "Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club". Date: January 31, 2020 > Subject: Sierra Weekly Dispatch: A cascade of wins on coal and clean energy > > > > > For Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender, the fight for a clean energy future is a family affair. > Dear Concerned Citizens..... > > This has been an incredible month for our Beyond Coal Campaign. First, the independent economic research group Rhodium issued a study showing that greenhouse gas emissions actually declined in the U.S. in 2019, almost entirely due to plummeting use of coal. When we started our campaign ten years ago, taking on the coal industry felt daunting. This month, we got the news that we’d won our 300th coal plant retirement...and then our 301st, 302nd, 303rd, and 304th. > > Let’s add that up. The five coal plants announced just this month churned out 25 million tons of climate-destroying CO2 in 2018 alone; closing them is like permanently taking 5.3 million cars off the road. On top of that, one of the last two proposed plants of the Bush-era coal rush—the Holcomb plant in Kansas—was finally abandoned this month, after a fourteen-year fight by our coal team. > > As Beyond Coal Regional Campaign Director Holly Bender explained: > > “Some of these coal fights live deep in our bones. Holcomb was one of mine. I started working on it as an intern with the Environmental Law Program in 2007. On January 15, we got the news that the proposal was finally abandoned for good. My family celebrated with homemade pizza, and we got the good Trader Joe’s wine (you know, the ‘Diamond Reserve’ label). I got to tell my two daughters that it was a really good day, and that all the pollution from the plant that could harm people, animals, and our environment would never happen.” > > These wins are the result of the tenacity, creativity, and commitment of thousands of volunteers and staff like Holly. Here’s a recap of what they’ve been able to accomplish just since we rang in the new year: > > January 2: Largest coal ash clean up in history announced through a settlement with the Sierra Club and allies. > January 6: Study in prestigious journal finds reduced US coal use saved 26,000 lives over the past decade > January 8: Coal plant #300 (Dolet Hills in Louisiana) announced to retire through a settlement with Sierra Club. > January 9: Tri-State announces coal retirements #301 and 302: Craig in Colorado and Escalante in New Mexico. > January 13: Reuters projects that 2019 will be the second biggest year ever for coal retirements. > January 15: Tri-State commits to 100 percent clean energy for Colorado by 2040, 50 percent renewable energy by 2024 for their electric cooperatives, and no new fracked gas plants as it phases out coal. > January 15: The proposed Holcomb coal plant in Kansas is finally abandoned. > January 21: Coal plant retirement #303 is announced: Merom Generating Station in Indiana. > January 22: Arizona utility announces a major new climate plan that will retire the Four Corners Power Plant—one of the biggest emitters carbon in the US, and commits to 100 percent clean power by 2050. > January 24: Coal plant retirement #304 is announced: Dairyland’s Genoa plant in Wisconsin. > > What a way to kick off this pivotal decade for our climate. We’re not finished yet—we’re only about halfway to our goal of retiring every coal plant in the US. As we do that work, we're also supporting an economic transition for coal workers and communities. And we’re already deep into tackling another big challenge: stopping the rush to fracked gas, which poses an enormous threat to our climate . But we have the wind at our backs. And I want to pause long enough to appreciate these victories and everyone who made them possible—including our generous donors. > > Your support is truly helping move the needle on a scale that matters for our climate and our future. As a mom with a big stake in that future, I can’t thank you enough. > > Warmly, Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Beyond Coal Campaign > > *501(c)3 contributions to the Sierra Club Foundation do not go toward our legislative lobbying efforts. Any lobbying activities are conducted by Sierra Club using 501(c)4 non-tax-deductible funds. > > > > > > > > >

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A CLIMATE UPDATE, SUNDAY @ 10:45 by Jim Kotcon
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 31 Jan '20

31 Jan '20

WVU Prof. Jim Kotcon will present: "A Climate Update: International, National, State and Local Activities." February 2 at 10:45 AM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Morgantown, Prof. Kotcon will be updating us on climate change, and will share his knowledge of opportunities to get involved. Join in and learn more. The UUFM is a Welcoming Congregation. The UUFM is located at 429 Warrick Avenue, off University Avenue between campuses. More info at 304-906-1014

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Airborne measurements point to low EPA methane estimates in south central US | Penn State University
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jan '20

27 Jan '20

Airborne measurements point to low EPA methane estimates in south central US | Penn State University, January 27, 2020 In prior research, Barkley determined EPA estimates for methane from natural gas facilities were also low in a portion of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region. https://news.psu.edu/story/605629/2020/01/27/research/airborne-measurements…

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Appalachian Stewardship Foundation & Longview Power, LLC
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 27 Jan '20

27 Jan '20

DOMINION POST OPINION 26 JANUARY 2020 “APPALACHIAN STEWARDSHIP FOUNDATION” By LARRY HARRIS, ASF Chairman In response to a recent article that appeared in The Dominion Post on January 16th, the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation (ASF) would like to correct several inaccuracies. ASF is an independent 501(c)3 grant-making foundation. ASF activities are funded in the amount of $500,000 per year through 2021, and $300,000 thereafter by the terms of a settlement agreement of a 2004 legal challenge to the air quality permit of Longview Power, LLC. The three environmental groups challenging the permit — Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation Association — entered into the settlement, as did Longview Power, LLC. All parties at the table signed and accepted the terms of legal settlement agreement. The environmental result of that challenge process was a cleaner plant: lower SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NOx (mono-nitrogen oxides) and particulate emissions, the first mercury monitor on a coal-burning plant. That has led to less pollution within the heavily populated area immediately surrounding the plant, West Virginia as a whole and across its neighboring states. The other outcome of the legal permit challenge process was the funding by Longview Power, LLC of the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation, with an independent governing structure of one voluntary board representative each to be appointed from the three environmental groups as well as one non-voting board representative each from Longview and AMD Reclamation. The funds would be used to: @ Reduce greenhouse gases; @ Restore streams and fisheries; @ Promote public awareness; @ And create innovative carbon-reduction research and projects, including programs directed at the reduction, offset, sequestration, mitigation and storage of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The geographical range of the foundations’ activities includes West Virginia, parts of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Since its first granting round in 2012, ASF has received $4 million from Longview Power and approved grants totaling over $2.2 million to groups across West Virginia and Virginia through our twice annual grant distribution process. A description of that grant process and a complete list of those grants awarded to date is available on the ASF website at appalachianstewards.org A statement (contained in an internal email from Longview’s president and CEO) that ASF has paid $1.2 million to lawyers, individually or collectively, is false. ASF has not paid legal fees to any lawyer. As noted, the terms of the legal settlement provide for $500,000 annually for the first 10 years ASF operates, and then a drop down to $300,000 annually thereafter, for the life of the Longview plant. ASF has set aside a portion of its annual funding to date to establish an endowment fund to mitigate against that 11th year drop. This fiscally responsible setaside, now totaling just under $1.6 million, will ensure that ASF is able to continue granting at its current levels even after funding from Longview decreases, and will ensure that the environmental work ASF supports will continue into the future. ASF has not, nor will it, take a position on the expansion of generating capacity at Longview. Monies from Longview do not pass through other groups before arriving at ASF. In addition, ASF is not funded through tax dollars or public funds of any sort. We are happy to have the opportunity to share the above information. >>> LARRY HARRIS, Ph.D., is chairman of Appalachian Stewardship Foundation’s Board.

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Letter to Editor: All parties should study report on PILOT deals
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 18 Jan '20

18 Jan '20

Letter to Editor: All parties should study report on PILOT deals >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Letter to the Editor, Morgantown Dominion Post, Submitted January 16, 2020 Mon County is Losing Millions in Tax Revenue, Exposed to Power Plant Emissions An in-depth look at the PILOT agreement for the Longview Power plant that is now operating has been performed by Ted Boettner, Director of the WV Center on Budget & Policy. This was published to their web-site on October 15, 2019. PILOT is the “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement approved by the Monongalia County Commission back in 2003. According to the analysis, the tax abatement (taxes not collected) is estimated at $457 million over 30 years. The proposed new Longview II power plant tax abatement that might be approved by the Monongalia County Commission, would forgive $217 million over 30 years. Thus, the total tax abatement for Longview according to Boettner is $674 million. Everyone should read and study the document on the web-site of the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy as it covers PILOT agreements in general. It is about 10 pages long. And, this document contains eight (8) guidelines or “best practices” that can help increase transparency, reduce waste, and ensure a more democratic process in the abatement process. The Monongalia County Sheriff, the School Board and the County Commission should study and use the facts and information in the above referenced document if approving another PILOT agreement, in the best interest of the public health and welfare. This is the reference: “PILOT Agreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at Longview Power Plant,” Ted Boettner, October 15, 2019. The source is: https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an… The Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition is concerned about putting another large power plant where so many will be affected, the Ft. Martin community, Maidsville, Star City, Stewartstown, Cheat Lake area, Pt. Marion, etc. Already we have over 300 diesel trucks per day on the Ft. Martin hill. The location of University High School and all the health care facilities of Mon General Hospital and the WVU Hospital system are downwind and subject to concerns especially during adverse weather conditions as thermal inversions in the atmosphere. My information is that the proposed new Longview II power plant will have emissions of over 10 tons per year of “hazardous air pollutants” (HAPs), 200 tons per year of fine particulate matter (PM), 500 tons per year of “volatile organic compounds” (VOCs), and 4 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, based upon data from the WV Department of Environmental Protection. All this would add to the even greater emissions from the existing Longview I and Ft. Martin coal fired power plants. We don’t want over 35 thousand residents and 35 thousand students to be exposed to these conditions. Duane G. Nichols, Stewartstown, WV 26508 > A truncated or edited version appears today in the Morgantown Dominion Post, as letters are limited to 300 words. > SEE ATTACHMENT > >

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Meet the woman who first identified the greenhouse effect
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 12 Jan '20

12 Jan '20

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/02/the-woman-who-identified-the-g… Meet the woman who first identified the greenhouse effect Article by Megan Darby, Climate Change News, 02/09/2016 Eunice Foote demonstrated the heat-trapping properties of carbon dioxide at a scientific conference in 1856, newly digitised records show Irish physicist John Tyndall is commonly credited with discovering the greenhouse effect, which underpins the science of climate change. Starting in 1859, he published a series of studies on the way greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide trapped heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. A recently digitised copy of The American Journal of Science and Arts suggests a woman beat him to it, however. It includes a presentation by Eunice Foote to a top US science conference in 1856. She describes filling glass jars with water vapour, carbon dioxide and air, and comparing how much they heated up in the sun. “The highest effect of the sun’s rays I have found to be in carbonic acid gas,” she writes, using the contemporary term for carbon dioxide. “The receiver containing the gas became itself much heated – very sensibly more so than the other – and on being removed, it was many times as long in cooling.” She goes on to speculate that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air could influence global temperatures. “An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature; and if as some suppose, at one period of its history the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from its own action as well as from increased weight must have necessarily resulted.” Climate scientist and communicator Katharine Hayhoe found Foote’s contribution after a colleague asked why there were no women in the history of the discipline. Her interest piqued, Hayhoe has approached local historians and Foote’s descendents through a family history website to try and find a picture of her or more information. Foote’s results were not definitive, Hayhoe says, with too many uncontrolled factors in the experiment. She could not have anticipated that atmospheric CO2 levels would rise from 290 parts per million at the time to 400ppm, prompting a global crisis. Still, her hypothesis was prescient and a version of her experiment is used to teach high school children today. “There was a bit of luck involved,” says Hayhoe, “but I think it is amazing that she connected the dots and came to a conclusion that subsequent science has proved to be correct.” Hayhoe is not the first to resurrect Foote’s legacy. In 2011, independent researcher Raymond Sorensen got an article published in the journal AAPG Search and Discovery. He relied on an observer’s account of Foote’s presentation, not having access to her own words. The report, by a David Wells in the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1856, hints at how unusual it was for a woman to appear at such a gathering. It states: “Prof. Henry then read a paper by Mrs. Eunice Foote, prefacing it with a few words, to the effect that science was of no country and of no sex. The sphere of woman embraces not only the beautiful and the useful, but the true.” Eunice Foote, born Newton, would have been unlikely to get the opportunity without the support of her husband, Elisha Foote. Judging by the related paper Elisha presented at the same conference, it seems the married couple worked together. They feature in The Road to Seneca Falls, an account of the women’s rights movement of the time. Elisha was a judge specialising in patent law and patented several inventions himself, according to author Judith Wellman, including a skate, drying machine and a reaping and binding machine. Eunice patented a “filling for soles of boots and shoes” in 1860. Tyndall does not appear to have heard of Foote’s work when he started on a similar line of inquiry. His publications are more extensive and include accurate quantification of how much different gases absorbed infrared radiation – “radiant heat” – from the sun. “With the exception of the celebrated memoir of M. Pouillet on Solar Radiation through the atmosphere, nothing, so far as I am aware, has been published on the transmission of radiant heat through gaseous bodies,” he wrote when presenting his initial results to the Royal Society of London in 1859, as cited by Sorensen. “With regard to the action of other gases upon heat, we are not, so far as I am aware, possessed of a single experiment.” It can be hard to assess claims of priority in science, says Sorensen, particularly if work is not in the public domain. But he adds: “It is clear that Eunice Foote deserves credit for being an innovator on the topic of CO2 and its potential impact on global climate warming.”

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Living on Earth: This Week's Show
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 11 Jan '20

11 Jan '20

AUSTRALIA’S WILDFIRES POINT TO THE FUTURE (PRI: Living on Earth) Australia is in the throes of its worst fire season in modern history. As thousands of homes are incinerated and an estimated billion animals perish, the world is getting a glimpse of our future in a warming world. Penn State University climatologist Michael Mann joins Host Steve Curwood from Sydney, where he is taking a sabbatical to study the influence of climate change on extreme weather events. Prof. Mann explains the clear link between climate disruption and wildfire disasters, and discusses Aussies’ frustration with the response of their government to the climate crisis. (13:48) Living on Earth: This Week's Show, January 10, 2020 http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.html?programID=20-P13-00002

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GREEN Newsletter, Volume 30 Issue 1
by Duane Nichols via MVCAC 10 Jan '20

10 Jan '20

West Virginia Environmental Council, Box 1007, Charleston, WV 25324 GREEN Newsletter, Volume 30 Issue 1, January 10, 2020 https://wvecouncil.org/green-volume-30-issue-1/

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Write your letter or make your online comments now: Longview II
by via MVCAC 06 Jan '20

06 Jan '20

So I got back a little while ago from the Public Service Commission's hearing about Longview II (or Son of Longview, as I think of it) in Morgantown at the Mon County Courthouse. The PSC has received only SIX letters or online comments opposing the plant and 103 letters and comments in support of the plant. So now is the time for you to submit a comment or letter, the PSC will accept them until late January when they have evidentiary hearings, so please, do it now! File a Letter of Protest with the WV Public Service Commission or File a Comment Online and ask that the Certificate of Site Approval be denied as it is written now. Please be sure to reference Case # 19-0890 in your letter or comments and state you are opposed (you are filing a 'letter of protest'). * Mail letters to (and don't forget to mention Case # 19-0890): * Ms. Connie Graley, Executive Secretary * West Virginia Public Service Commission * 201 Brooks St * Charleston, WV 25301 * Or Comment Online Protesting Case Number 19-0890 at: http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID= 73056 <http://www.psc.state.wv.us/Scripts/OnlineComments/formalComments.cfm?CaseID =73056&CaseNumber=19%2D0890%2DE%2DCS%2DCN> &CaseNumber=19%2D0890%2DE%2DCS%2DCN Things you may want to consider as you write your letter or comment: * Why are we subsidizing a fossil-fuel plan that will be obsolete by the time it comes online? Rather, let's put all of our hard-earned tax money into renewable energy, which is growing faster and becoming cheaper than gas-fired generation. Gas plants will soon be what coal plants are now: obsolete. Longview II proposes a little bit of solar generation (mostly in Pennsylvania) so it can pretend it cares about the environment. As one of the speakers tonight said at the PSC hearing, "This is Greenwashing." * Why are we, Mon County and state taxpayers, giving a tax break to this for-profit company to build an antiquated power plant? ... especially when this same company has already bilked us for many millions of dollars? Read this West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy article for the facts about why giving tax abatements (tax breaks) to Longview II through a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) scheme is a bad idea: https://wvpolicy.org/pilot-agreements-cost-state-millions-in-tax-revenue-an- in-depth-look-at-longview-power-plant/. The Mon County Commission has not even released the final PILOT agreement. No one has calculated if the last PILOT we gave Longview was worth it. There is no transparency and no accountability. West Virginians are poor. We should not be giving corporate welfare to rich, for-profit companies polluting our air and water to produce electricity for people outside our state. * West Virginia generates three times more electricity than it consumes: we should not be subsidizing electricity for people and business outside our state. We don't need the electricity here in Mon County or in West Virginia. We already generate much more power than we use. The Beechurst plant may stop burning coal, but it will burn gas and continue to operate. Fort Martin isn't going anywhere soon. Longview II will not replace the Fort Martin Power Plant (which, by the way, is in West Virginia, nor Pennsylvania). Proponents of the original Longview said Longview I would do that, but the Fort Martin Power station is still operating over 20 years past it's designed life expectancy. Huge coal-fired power stations still operate just north of us in Masontown, PA and south of us in Harrison County, WV. Other, smaller power stations are all around us. * The "gas is clean" argument does not hold up. Natural-gas extraction has adverse real-time consequences for West Virginians in addition to climate change. From polluted air and water near well pads and compressor stations to constant noise and dangerous roads. Once again people in West Virginia pay the price, with their taxes and their lives, for dirty electricity used outside our state. The Dominion Post constantly publishes Longview's BS line about how their current coal-fired facility is so clean and wonderful (the cleanest in the universe), when in reality, Longview took our money and went bankrupt after its plant cost more than DOUBLE the $900 Million Longview Power said it would cost, and then the plant did not completely function when it eventually came online. Coal-fired Longview finally became fully operational only after many more millions of dollars were sunk into the plant by its creditors, just in time for natural gas prices to plummet and make coal uneconomical. Longview lies. They lied to us before, they are lying now, and they will lie in the future. Longview knows it can get money from us again because we fell all over ourselves to give it money last time. Yes, we are suckers. As the saying goes, "Fool me twice, shame on me." We are being fooled again. Please, write the letter. -paula

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