Home

Guest columnist Karen Kahn lives in Salem Willows and is a founding member of Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE).

On Saturday, Nov. 13, I joined Greenpeace, Students for a Just and Stable Future, and Bikes Not Bombs in their “Roll Against Coal,” a bike ride from Davis Square in Somerville to the Salem Harbor Power Station.

Wearing “Quit Coal” T-shirts, the 50-plus riders attracted attention from pedestrians and drivers all along the route through Malden, Saugus, Lynn, Peabody, and into Salem.

As a neighbor of the power plant, I understand the importance of the plant to our local economy. But I also see “the writing on the wall.” According to climate experts, if we don’t end our addiction to coal-fired electric plants in the next 20 years, we will fail in our efforts to stop the overheating of our planet. The New York Times front-page story this weekend concerned melting ice in Greenland, which could cause sea level rises this century of three to six feet. As a coastal community, Salem has much to lose if these scientists are right.

I believe that Salem can — and must — accept the fact that the Salem generating station is headed for retirement. Our resources should be put toward defining a coal-free prosperous future for our community.

There have been several indications that the plant is headed for retirement. Since Dominion bought the plant in 2003, it has invested very little money in upgrades to equipment or in pollution control technology that would allow the plant to meet the stricter 2012 environmental regulations. There has been no indication that Dominion intends to upgrade the nearly-60 year old infrastructure. Rather they are doing what many of us do with our cars — run them into the ground. But this behavior has risks. We all saw the results in 2007, when three workers died as a result of lax inspections of the plants old, rusting boilers.

A month ago, Dominion, claiming it could make more money on the open market, applied to the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO) to “permanently delist” the Salem plant from its must run status in 2014-15.

The ISO has previously said the Salem power plant is necessary to ensure the reliability of the electrical grid in the North East Massachusetts Area (NEMA). If the ISO decides “yes” this time, the ratepayers in this area (that is every person reading this column who pays for electricity) will pay extra money to keep a coal plant — the largest contributor to global climate change and unhealthy air in our area — operating in 2013-2014. And we will pay handsomely: $30 million. That money would be better used in transitioning NEMA to a clean energy future.

In April, the state awarded Salem, $200,000 to study how the plant’s 65 acres of harbor front property can be best used in the future. The consultants will be looking at the cost of cleaning up the property and tax revenues that can be generated from new businesses established on the old power plant site. We need to make sure that our transition plan includes a just transition for the workers — and whatever bridge loans are necessary for new businesses to ramp up and begin paying taxes in Salem.

Instead of paying $30 million to Dominion to run a dirty coal plant, let’s use our resources to help the North East Massachusetts Area transition to a clean energy future.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Dominion (D.N) expects to shut the Salem Harbor coal/oil-fired power plant in Massachusetts within seven years as the high cost of keeping up with ever more stringent pollution rules could make it uneconomic to keep operating the plant, a company executive said.

With the federal government looking to impose a cost on carbon emissions to combat global warming and environmental regulations becoming increasingly stringent year over year, several power companies, including Exelon Corp (EXC.N), Progress Energy Inc (PGN.N) and American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N) already have announced plans to retire some older, less efficient coal plants.

Dominion CFO Mark McGettrick told investors this month at the Edison Electric Institute conference in Palm Desert, California, the company expects to close two merchant coal-fired generating stations within the next seven years, if changes to environmental regulations occur as expected.

Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has said the retirement of about 60 gigawatts (60,000 MW) of coal-fired capacity was "very likely within five years" as the EPA moves forward with more stringent emissions standards.

That is about 20 percent of the 300 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity, which mostly run all the time as baseload plants, generating about 45 percent of the nation's power. But that is down from about 50 percent a couple of years ago as cheap natural gas prices have boosted its share of the generating mix from about 20 percent to about 24 percent now.

Genest said: "The key word in McGettrick's statement is 'expect.' Our future decision is dependent on what happens. Environmental regulations get delayed ... courts change rules ... We don't know if the EPA rules will go in effect in 2015-2017.

The shutdown of Salem Harbor would hit the city of Salem hard. Last year, the plant, which employs about 145 people, paid about $4.5 million in taxes, making it the biggest taxpayer in the city, according to local news reports. ----------------------------------------------------------- PLANT BACKGROUND/TIMELINE STATE: Massachusetts COUNTY: Essex TOWN: Salem about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Boston OPERATOR: Dominion OWNER(S): Dominion CAPACITY: 738 MW UNIT(S): - 1 - 79 MW coal/oil-fired steam turbine

- 4 - 437 MW oil-fired steam turbine FUEL: Coal/Oil DISPATCH: Intermediate/Peaking TIMELINE: 1952 - Units 1 and 2 enter service 1958 - Unit 3 enters service 1972 - Unit 4 enters service 1998 - PG&E buys Salem Harbor and other generating

The owner of Salem Harbor Power Station has no plans to close the plant, a spokesman said this week, despite what the company’s financial officer said at a Nov. 2 meeting.

The Conservation Law Foundation posted a quote from Mark McGettrick, CFO of plant owner Dominion, on its blog on Wednesday.

“We have announced that two of our coal plants will shut down in the future when the environmental rules are clear. The first is Salem Harbor in the Northeast. We’ve already tried to delist a few of those units, but the ISO has required the two biggest ones for reliability. But in the near future, certainly within this five-year horizon, we would expect Salem Harbor plant to shut down. We will not be investing any capital for environmental improvements at Salem Harbor,” McGettrick said.

Dan Genest, a spokesman for the Virginia-based company, confirmed the quote is accurate. McGettrick made the statement during a financial conference in California for the Edison Electric Institute.

“The key word in there is we would expect. That’s if nothing changes,” Genest said.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is considering new regulations for 2015 to 2017. The regulations would pertain to sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, Genest said.

“If those regulations come to be, our intention is we’re not going to invest in any expensive environmental projects at the Salem power station,” he said.

Genest noted that environmental regulations don’t always come to fruition in the target time frame.

“At the moment we’re not making any plans to shut down Salem Harbor Power Station,” he said. “We’re continuing our goal of running the plant as long as we can do so safely, economically and in full compliance with the law.”

The Conservation Law Foundation, however, believes McGettrick’s comments tell the real story.

“So there you have it. Salem Harbor is going to shut down within five years,” CLF wrote in its blog post.

CLF is also suing power plant owner Dominion for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.

ISO-New England requires the plant to operate for the sake of reliability.

“In the case of Salem Harbor, ISO studies have shown that thermal overloads could occur in some situations, leading to potential violations of federal reliability standards,” ISO-New England wrote in a press release.

That means Dominion is compensated financially to continue operations in Salem, something the CLF has a problem with.

“So, if ISO-NE continues to find the plant is needed for reliability, who will pay the price for those improvements? Ratepayers. Specifically, the ratepayers who live in the shadow of this plant in northeastern Massachusetts. That’s why ISO-NE must act now to find an alternative to Salem Harbor Station,” CLF wrote in the blog.

Genest said he wouldn’t speculate on whether the ISO would continue to compensate Dominion if the new environmental regulations are passed in the next five to 10 years.