Published: February 14, 2019 |

[Click image to enlarge]

The Tennessee Valley Authority has released its final environmental assessment of the Paradise Fossil Plant in Muhlenberg County just days before a key decision the board of directors is set to make regarding its future.

A 350-page report released Monday found that closing the plant’s last remaining coal-fired unit, PFC Unit 3, would have no significant impact on the TVA power service area, despite claims by several Republican state and federal officials this week that it could disrupt the national grid, especially during high peak times like the polar vortex earlier this month.

At a massive rally in Powderly on Saturday, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin called on the TVA board to delay its vote, scheduled for Thursday, until at least two new members have been appointed and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has completed its own study on the impact consistently competitive natural gas prices are having on the coal and nuclear power markets. FERC denied a request by President Donald Trump to help subsidize those markets last month.

The president tweeted support for the Muhlenberg County power plant on Monday saying: “Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and (the TVA) should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!”

Later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, responded to Trump’s tweet saying: “I agree Mr. President. #Coal is an affordable & reliable source of energy we can find right here in #Kentucky. It powers the lights in our homes & employs thousands of hardworking Kentuckians. Coal has helped fuel our country’s greatness & it needs to be part of our energy future.”

Unit 3, which employs about 130 people, is the last remaining coal-burning unit at Paradise, which sits on the Green River about six miles east of Drakesboro. The TVA retired Paradise Unites 1 and 2 in April 2017 because of revised federal mercury and air toxic standards. They were replaced that same year with the Paradise Combined Cycle Plant to the north, a 1,100-megawatt natural gas plant capable of meeting flexible energy production needs. Since then, the TVA has continued to monitor the remaining coal-fired unit at Paradise Fossil Plant, and, in November, released a report that recommended its closure. It is nearly 50 years old and plagued with ongoing maintenance issues, the report stated. Natural gas prices, it added, have remained consistently lower than those for coal.

A Murray Energy Corp. mine is responsible for at least 50 percent of the fuel Unit 3 consumes and several other washing and hauling facilities rely on its operations there, not to mention the region’s economic interest in those jobs and the tax dollars they generate.

“It’s not just me, but it’s the community,” said Tyler Allen, who works at a coal preparation facility that cleans fuel for the unit. “I think the this is just a remnant of the war on coal that we have. It’s going to continue to get worse if we don’t do something about it. ... In this area, (coal) is a huge part of every job to most people. A lot of people from this community work in the coal industry.”

Monday’s report, however, determined that, while closing the plant could have a moderate socioeconomic impact on Muhlenberg County, the remaining coal unit cannot keep up with national energy growth trends.

“Unit 3 does not provide the level of flexibility needed to balance hourly, daily and seasonal changes in energy consumption,” the report reads. “In addition cycling the unit off and on results in more wear and tear and higher operation and maintenance costs. TVA has considered load outlook, economic benefits and costs, performance and environmental and social impacts and determined that there is no immediate need to replace the generating capacity currently provided by PAF Unit 3. ... TVA’s action ... supports a low cost, reliable, risk-informed, diverse, environmentally responsible and flexible power system.”

Source: Messenger-Inquirer

To stop by TVA’s website, CLICK HERE

Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!