Recent editorials from West Virginia newspapers:
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Dec. 29
The Herald-Dispatch on a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia that could shut down in a few years:
Recently revised federal regulations concerning coal-fired power plants could mean another one will shut down by the end of the decade.
Last week, Appalachian Power announced it had submitted a request to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia for a rate increase to cover costs of environmental improvements at its three remaining coal-fired power plants in West Virginia: John Amos in Putnam County, Mountaineer in Mason County and Mitchell in Marshall County.
“Our request in the filing includes upgrades necessary to comply with the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule and Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG) rule at the Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants, which would allow these plants to continue to operate through 2040. The filing also includes an alternative of CCR-only compliance for the Mitchell Plant, which would require retiring the plant in 2028,” Appalachian Power spokesman Phil Moye wrote in an email to The Herald-Dispatch.
“For Amos and Mountaineer our analysis demonstrates complying with both the CCR and ELG rules and operating both plants through 2040 will be less costly for customers than the next best option, which is CCR-Only compliance and retiring one or both plants in 2028.
“For Mitchell our analysis demonstrates complying with both the CCR and ELG rules and operating the plant through 2040 will be more costly for customers than CCR-only compliance and retiring the plant in 2028.”
The economic effects of losing Mitchell go beyond Marshall County. Last year, Mitchell took delivery of about 2.6 million tons of coal mined in West Virginia, with part of that coming from Kanawha and Boone counties. Mitchell also bought coal from mines in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Large coal-burning plants such as these are about the only kind left in the AEP system. Smaller plants, such as Kanawha River in Kanawha County and Philip Sporn in Mason County, have already been retired because, one, they were too small to justify the sort of investment AEP needs to make at Amos, Mountaineer and Sporn to keep them in compliance with new environmental regulations, and, two, they just aren’t competitive any longer with gas and renewables.
AEP has retired or sold nearly 13,500 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity in the past decade, according to Nick Akins, AEP’s chairman, president and CEO.
“As we look at the future of our power plant fleet, we’ve balanced the remaining life and economic viability of each of our coal-fueled generating units with other options for delivering power to our customers. We continue to add lower cost, cleaner resources, like renewables and natural gas, as we diversify our generating fleet to benefit our customers and the environment,” Akins said in a statement last month.
So now this question moves to the regulatory arena here in West Virginia. There will be document filings and Public Service Commission hearings. Unless economic, political and regulatory conditions change, West Virginia is about to lose another coal-fired power plant, and the mines that produce coal that is burned in power plants are about to lose yet another market.
Online: https://www.herald-dispatch.com/
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Dec. 28
The Journal on speeding up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines:
Distribution of millions of doses of vaccine effective against COVID-19 was no Christmas miracle. It happened only because many people at private drug companies worked hard and at top speed - encouraged by the federal government - to develop and test the vaccines. And they were released much sooner than would normally have happened because regulatory agencies adopted President Donald Trump’s “warp speed” strategy.
One need not be an admirer of Trump to give him and his administration credit for that. Their efforts to get the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available quickly have saved lives.
But both companies have international obligations and can produce their vaccines only so quickly. Getting other companies’ formulas out as fast as responsibly possible is essential.
“Warp speed” was intended to do that. Its benefits, including financial assistance and incentives, were not limited to Pfizer and Moderna. For example, another pharmaceutical giant, Merck, is receiving about $365 million to get its vaccine ready quickly.
A total of four vaccines in addition to Moderna’s and Pfizer’s are in development. The potential is for millions more doses of life-saving vaccine.
Clearly, we need it. Thousands of Americans are being killed each week by COVID-19. The vast majority are older men and women.
“Warp speed” needs to be pursued, both now and after President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20. More than that, any additional steps - including more support funding - that can be taken to speed distribution of more vaccines ought to be employed.
Lives, perhaps tens of thousands of them, can be saved.
Online: https://www.journal-news.net/
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Dec. 22
The Charleston Gazette-Mail on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in West Virginia:
Gov. Jim Justice and his administration deserve credit for organizing an aggressive strategy to get COVID-19 vaccines to patients in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
Without question, these facilities have been epicenters for coronavirus outbreaks in West Virginia, and they house the demographic the pandemic hits hardest - the elderly and those with underlying health problems.
By Justice’s account, West Virginia had a plan in place before most other states to protect these vulnerable residents, and his administration is getting the vaccine to them while others are still trying to figure out how to do the same. That’s good news in a time when good news is in short supply.
It was harder to understand Gov. Justice saying during a recent briefing that he enjoys “rubbing (other states’) faces in it.” What he was probably trying to say is that West Virginia is sometimes stereotyped and misjudged, and often appears in the bottom of rankings in the United States when it comes to things like education, health and economic well-being, and it’s nice to be ahead of the curve for a change.
But he chose his words poorly. Nothing about this pandemic, which has now killed more than 320,000 Americans, should be viewed as a competition. Nor should anyone take any kind of schadenfreude in one state reacting well while other states struggle. If anything, it underlies how poorly this entire challenge has been managed by multiple layers of government, and how a pandemic that should have brought a unified response has been turned into a divisive issue.
On the topic of federal response, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., deserves credit for helping to get another COVID-19 relief bill passed when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seemed uninterested in taking up House legislation. Manchin and other bipartisan congressional members were able to put party and ego aside, realizing that the pandemic is beyond such paltry divisions.
It’s a fair question to ask whether the deal that was reached will be enough to truly shield Americans from the economic devastation the coronavirus pandemic has wrought. While appreciated, a $600 stimulus check in 2020 doesn’t seem like much. Many received that same amount when President George W. Bush issued tax rebate checks in 2001. And there was nothing comparable to the current pandemic pressing on businesses and consumers at that time.
Of course, there is more in the package than stimulus checks. It’s certainly better than nothing, but what is that really saying?
Among all of this action taking place at the federal and state levels, West Virginians have to remain cautious about the health threat that still exists.
Vaccines for the general public are still three or four months away. West Virginia recorded another 42 deaths between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, bringing the total in the state to 1,172, according to the Department of Health and Human Resources. Another 1,400 cases were recorded in that same period, and, barring a major break in trends, West Virginia will surpass 75,000 total cases by Wednesday. Roughly 65,000 of those cases have been recorded within the past three months.
COVID-19 is still here and spreading more quickly than at any other time since the state government began taking action in the spring.
Help is on the way, financially and medically, but patience and caution - commodities more valuable right now than anything else - are still needed.
Online: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/
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