Mon County Commission to Approve New PILOT Agreements for Longview Power on December 16th

Ignoring GHG & Climate Change is irresponsible

Protest Letter from Duane Nichols, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition, Dec. 13, 2020

Incomplete information from the Mon County Commission brings holiday fears to the northern areas of Monongalia County. There is apparently a proposed “tax-avoidance scheme” being cooked up as a holiday gift to an out-of-state corporation. Apparently, this scheme is ignoring the global climate change problems including its impact on the pandemic and other public health issues. Another fossil fueled power plant on top of two existing power plants is adding insult to injury.

The Longview Power plant already has experienced two bankruptcies, brought 300 trucks per day to the roads of Ft. Martin, received millions of dollars in tax forgiveness, and polluted the area with fine particulates, acidic gases and shadowy vapor plumes. Now our County Commission is apparently encouraging additional abuse to our county.

Our residents have not been informed. There has been a sketch in the local newspaper, inadequate to provide an understanding. But, no legal announcement, no public hearing, no comment period, and no proper explanation of the complex tax avoidance scheme. We all know that globally, now is the time for fossil fuels to at least pay-their-own-way.

We already have two large power plants in the Ft. Martin community with multiple impacts to residents there and the nearby locations of Bakers Ridge, Star City, Osage, Stewartstown, including University High School, etc. These are all exposed to the stack gases and cooling tower plumes and even worse to the fine particulates and ultrafine particulates. These pollutants are now known to penetrate the lung tissue, enter the blood stream and affect the heart, brain, etc.

Any proposed PILOT agreement for Longview Power Two, or whatever is its new name, needs to involve public hearings or at least a thirty-day comment period so that (1) the general public can be informed as to what is being proposed, (2) financial advisor consultants can understand the long range significance of these tax avoidance schemes, and (3) public health experts can advise on the impacts to students, residents and the elderly in the various health care facilities of our area.

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NOTE: As of November 10th, Longview Power Two & Three have been renamed Mountain State Clean Energy (natutal gas plant) and Mountain State Renewable Energy (solar plant), respectively. Using the word “Clean” is a misnomer for a plant that generates so many tons of acid gases, fine particulates, and greenhouse gases.