IV.       SUMMARY

West Virginia is open for business, but it should not be open for exploitation. Concerned Citizens believe that the application by Longview Power, LLC, to the Public Service Commission for the permits required to build a coal-fired power plant near Morgantown crosses a line that separates acceptable economic development from the exploitation of West Virginia’s residents and their quality of life.  In the preceding sections we have identified many pertinent details of Longview’s applications that support this position.  However, the decision by the Public Service Commission to approve or deny Longview’s applications cannot be reduced to a simple weighing of details.  The likelihood of the success or failure of the Longview power plant, the realization of true benefits for the residents of Monongalia County and the State of West Virginia, and the broader impact of the Longview power plant on our region’s future depends on more than kilowatts, dollars and decibels.  To fully assess the significance of these details requires a careful scrutiny of the company that submitted them in support of its application.  Therefore, Concerned Citizens believes the following four themes should be considered along with the technical details presented to the Public Service Commission:

1. Longview is neither a credible nor competent applicant. It is not surprising that Longview failed repeatedly to provide information to the Staff of the Public Service Commission in a thorough and timely manner, given the fact that GenPower has no experience in developing a coal-fired power plant.  West Virginians do not deserve to be placed at risk by the blunders of an inexperienced power plant developer. Longview’s, i.e. GenPower’s, incompetence becomes particularly dangerous when coupled with its desire to invest the minimum amount of money and effort in providing a fully developed and complete application to the Commission.  The problems created by GenPower’s lack of competence has hindered the Commission’s evaluation of the noise impact.  This lack of competence is also evident in GenPower’s failure to provide detailed plans for any substantial part of the Longview power plant and its failure to provide a financial plan to ensure the project’s long-term viability.  If Longview could not submit a complete and credible application to the Commission, how can we be confident that it can build a power plant?  It is disturbing that GenPower will sell a package of permits to others who will actually build the Longview plant, because we have no opportunity at this point to determine if the new owners will be any more competent than GenPower.

2. Longview, i.e. GenPower, is not a trustworthy applicant.  The Commission’s review of Longview’s application is predicated on the honesty and integrity of the information and expert opinion provided by all parties to the Commission.  Yet, Longview demonstrated in its attempt to manipulate the testimony of Eldon Ray that it is willing to corrupt the process if it suits Longview.  This direct attempt to manipulate testimony casts a long and troubling shadow over all aspects of Longview’s application. Longview’s trustworthiness has also been challenged by the fact that the current owners of Longview (GenPower) may be out of the picture by the time construction of the power plant would actually begin.  Bait-and-switch strategies are not a good basis for a corporation to gain the public’s trust, and the departure of Longview’s current owners raises serious concerns about long-term accountability during the construction and operation of the Longview power plant.  Longview, i.e. GenPower, has demonstrated that it is nothing more than a broker for a commodity it wishes to create in the State of West Virginia by taking advantage of residents, tax payers, and government permitting agencies for an exorbitant profit.

3. The imbalance between regional economic benefit and Longview’s corporate profit is unfair. A cornerstone of economic development is the willingness of a developer to risk a financial investment to obtain a long-term profit. But, when the public is asked to share in the investment by giving a tax break to the developer, the notion of a fair profit must be given much greater consideration. Longview has failed to demonstrate that a PILOT Agreement is necessary for this project, although it is clear that it will receive excessive benefit from the PILOT.  In asking the public for a tax break, Longview has obligated itself to be forthcoming in demonstrating that its profit-taking does not offend the public interest.  It has not done so.

4. There is too much uncertainty surrounding this project.  Despite requests from Staff of the Public Service Commission and Concerned Citizens, Longview has failed to submit many essential items of information to the Commission for review.  The Commission and Concerned Citizens still do not have the final detailed plans and specifications required by the Commission, Longview’s financial viability is still undetermined, and there is no specification of a market for its electricity.  The list of missing information goes on and on.  This uncertainty in the details makes it impossible to assess the risks, or the benefits, of the Longview power plant to West Virginia.

Concerned Citizens respects the interests of the construction workers who have supported the Longview power plant in their quest for more jobs. But the public interest must be viewed more broadly, and we want to remind the Public Service Commission of the many other West Virginians who will not be so lucky as to benefit from Longview.

There are the residents of the Fort Martin community who have already endured over 30 years of living next door to the Fort Martin power plant, one of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation.  Now, Longview is asking them to accept more noise, dirtier air, and a further deterioration of their quality of life. Where the residents now see open pasture outside their homes, Longview wants them to accept another noisy, massive, belching power plant as their new neighbor. As difficult as it is to get a good night’s sleep now, Longview wants them to sacrifice more, with an even larger parade of trucks, dust, and incessant mechanical noise that even Longview’s own noise expert (Vince Alaimo) said he would not want as a neighbor. Rather than showing respect for the Fort Martin community and dealing with these issues, Longview has simply tried to buy out the community of Fort Martin, but many have resisted.

There is also the next generation of Monongalia County workers who, twenty years from now, will ask us why we invested so much in a 19^th century industry when we had so many better opportunities available to us—a growing regional medical center, high-tech research, and a top-class university.  The addition of the 8^th coal-fired power plant within 30 miles only jeopardizes these opportunities. Will we tell the next generation that short-term jobs were more important than their future?

The Public Service Commission has heard from many people who are opposed to the Longview power plant. But, the Commission has not heard from many of the very large group of people most likely to be hurt by Longview—our children and our elderly.  They will take in the greatest risk with the air they breathe. Asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death are not beneficial to these people. How can we, as a compassionate society, continue to expose our most fragile constituents to such great risks so that others can achieve a short-term gain?

West Virginia is open for business, and it has many bright opportunities to pursue. Longview, however, is not one of them. Like a pied piper, GenPower has tempted our community and its leaders during the past 3½ years with promises that the Longview power plant would be good for us.  But, we are reminded of the failures of projects developed by GenPower in Dell, Arkansas, and McAdams, Mississippi. Nothing among GenPower’s presentations to the Public Service Commission, or any other entity, has convinced us that we would fare any better than these failed projects.  Construction of the Longview power plant is not in the public interest, and it is not a good business for West Virginia.  It is nothing more than exploitation by an out-of-state company hoping for a large profit with a minimal investment of money and effort. In so doing, GenPower has displayed contempt for the health, prosperity and welfare of our communities.  Put most succinctly—Longview offends the public interest.
V.        CONCLUSION

During the past 3 ½ years we have heard many arguments presented for and against the Longview power plant. The public has been engaged in debate across many venues—public information meetings, public hearings before the Monongalia County Commission and the Monongalia County Board of Education, and two rounds of public and evidentiary hearings before the Public Service Commission. As we near the end of this debate, it is appropriate that the Commission will make the final determination of whether this project should move forward, because it is the Commission that is given the authority by the State of West Virginia to serve as the final arbiter of the most important question of all—whether constructing Longview is in the public interest.

An important point of debate has been determining how the impacts of Longview on the public interest should be weighed across our region. It has been very evident in statements made at the Commission’s public hearings and letters submitted to the Commission that most of Longview’s supporters are construction workers who live outside of Monongalia County.  These workers would have the good fortune to find temporary construction employment, but live and raise their families at a safe distance from Longview.  In contrast, most of the opponents of Longview live in Monongalia County and would have to live with Longview as an unwelcome new neighbor for the next 30 years or more.  In weighing the benefits of Longview to the state, region, and county, we believe that the short-term regional benefits of construction employment are outweighed by the long-term negative impact of Longview on the quality of life, the health of the public, and the potential loss of more promising economic development opportunities in Monongalia County. 

In determining whether Longview is in the public interest, we ask the Commission to give careful scrutiny to GenPower, the company.  Although it has wooed many of our local political leaders, Longview, i.e., GenPower has failed to gain the public’s trust.  It has shown disrespect to our community and to the Commission in not being forthcoming in answering important questions, and now, after several years of prodding, its application remains incomplete. For the residents of Monongalia County, the final insult has been the large corporate profit that GenPower wants to take away, while it leaves us so little.  To approve GenPower’s application would set the standard for approval at such a low level that it would set a bad precedent for the consideration of applications from other power plant developers in the future. GenPower is simply not the right company to develop a new power plant in West Virginia, given the record in these proceedings.

            For all the reasons set forth above, Intervenors Barbara J. Born, et al., [Concerned Citizens] respectfully request this Honorable Public Service Commission of West Virginia dismiss the Application for a Siting Certificate and the Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity Authorizing the Construction and Installation of a 500 kV Electric Transmission Line filed by Longview Power, LLC, i.e., GenPower, LLC, on the bases that: (1) Longview offends the public interest in its abuse of our quality of life, health, economic development, and sense of fair profit; (2) Longview refuses to provide essential information needed to demonstrate that its construction and operation could be in the public interest; and (3) Longview (i.e., GenPower) is not a credible developer that can be trusted by the citizens of Monongalia County.

           The residents of Monongalia County do not want this power plant.