Energy & Environment Story Archives - Page 3 of 153 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

After Hurricane Helene, Morgan County Bolsters Local Emergency Prep

The devastation of Hurricane Helene has led emergency response officials and advocates in Morgan County to bolster emergency preparedness efforts for the public.

Hurricane Helene devastated large areas of the southeastern United States in late September, claiming hundreds of lives.

Damage from the cyclone was less pronounced in West Virginia. But it still reminded some emergency response officials that natural disasters require proactive preparation, because they can occur without much warning for residents.

“Take the emergency situations that happened in North Carolina and Tennessee. Their systems, they weren’t there anymore. Towers blew down. Towns washed away,” said Jason Hoover, director of the Morgan County Office of Emergency Services, Sunday afternoon. “We’re talking about 350 miles and that could have been us.”

Hoover addressed the hurricane at a local firehall in Berkeley Springs as part of an emergency preparedness seminar for Morgan County residents.

The event was hosted by Hoover’s office and the Morgan County Emergency Communications Network (MCECN).

A nonprofit, the MCECN was founded in 2020 by amateur radio operators in Morgan County. It aims to provide an independent communication network as a backup for government-run communication services during emergencies, according to MCECN President John Petersen.

More than 300 residents attended the event in person or joined over livestream, according to the MCECN. Local emergency response officials outlined risks the community should prepare for, plans for how to respond to a disaster and current methods of emergency communication.

Hoover said many people look to federal organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency for intervention during emergencies, but that responses from national agencies tend to be delayed. That means keeping the local community prepared is crucial, he said.

“Disasters start local, and they end local,” Hoover said. “The only thing we can do as a community is help prepare for that.”

Major disasters like Hurricane Helene are typically so large in scale that they overwhelm local emergency response efforts and the supply chain, preventing people from getting resources, according to Petersen.

Morgan County Emergency Communications Network President John Petersen addresses attendees at an emergency preparedness seminar in Berkeley Springs Sunday.

*Photo Credit: Morgan County Emergency Communications Network*

Stores can run out of food in a matter of days, and communication networks and internet service can fall soon after, he said.

One way residents can prepare for events like these is creating emergency kits with nonperishable food and water, sheltering supplies, medical and self-defense items, and communications and power resources, Petersen said.

Petersen said families should also develop plans for where they would go during an emergency, and which family member would take on each responsibility.

“Remember the brief they give you at the beginning of the airplane [ride]? They say, if the oxygen masks come down, you take care of yourself first,” he said. “That’s the idea. You’ve got to take care of yourself first. Because, if you haven’t got the capability to deal with this, then you’re not going to be able to help anybody else.”

Morgan County law enforcement, medical and fire response officials also spoke during Sunday’s event, highlighting additional crises the community could face and the role their agencies play in responding to them.

To close, the MCECN walked residents through current emergency communications infrastructure in Morgan County.

They said amateur radio operators play an increasingly important role in strengthening communication resources available during disasters, and explained how amateur radios function for prospective new users.

When cellular service and the internet are down, amateur radio operators “are the last resort,” Petersen said. “The amateur radio community commonly plays a central role in providing communications when there are big disasters.”

Petersen also said that the MCECN and its community partners hope to continue hosting meetings and trainings throughout the year so more people can get involved, and so that the local community continues to think about how to prepare for the unexpected.

For him, preparing for emergencies long term means “you don’t have to be afraid” when disasters do strike.

“You prepare, and you think about alternatives, and you train for it,” Petersen said.

To watch the Morgan County Emergency Communications Network livestream of Sunday’s emergency preparedness seminar, visit the nonprofit’s YouTube page.

Appalachian Power Again Seeks Rate Increase From State Regulators

Instead of the roughly 17 percent increase it had previously sought, it is proposing instead to spread out the cost over time through securitization, resulting in a smaller 4 percent increase.

Appalachian Power has filed a new case with state regulators asking for a rate increase.

Instead of the roughly 17 percent increase it had previously sought, it is proposing instead to spread out the cost over time through securitization, resulting in a smaller 4 percent increase.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission dismissed the company’s earlier rate filing amid a torrent of opposition from residents, local officials and school districts concerned about the rising cost of their bills.

“Without leveraging the 2023 securitization legislation, traditional recovery of our investments would add to the burden some of our customers already face due to rising inflation and costs across many industries,” said Aaron Walker, Appalachian Power’s president and operating chief.

Securitization involves buying bonds that would be paid off over a period of years. The term for the proposal would be 20 years, according to the company.

The company said a more traditional approach to its filing would result in a 13.5 percent monthly increase for most electricity customers, or almost $24.

The securitization method would reduce that amount to $6.72 for a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatts a month. The company would also implement a program to stabilize rates.

Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power have 460,000 customers in 25 West Virginia counties.

The PSC has approved other, smaller increases in recent months, including costs for environmental compliance, vegetation management and the coal used to produce electricity.

Amid the rising cost of using coal and pending regulations to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, Appalachian Power has told regulators in Virginia that it could convert its Amos and Mountaineer plants in West Virginia to burn gas instead of coal.

The plants serve electricity customers in both states. Unlike West Virginia, Virginia has pivoted sharply away from coal, embracing gas and renewables.

Groups Seek Contempt Order On Justice-Owned Coal Company

The Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Voices say A&G Coal Company has violated an agreement to reclaim three coal mines in Southwest Virginia.

Environmental groups have asked a federal court to hold one of Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies in contempt.

The Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Voices say A&G Coal Company has violated an agreement to reclaim three coal mines in southwest Virginia.

Further, the groups say Roanoke-based A&G has mined coal at two of the sites, in violation of a January 2023 consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

The reclamation deadlines have already passed for two of the sites and another looms for the third, totaling 3,300 acres in Wise County, Virginia near the Kentucky border.

A Virginia study earlier this year found A&G’s total reclamation liabilities at all of its mines total $190 million, far exceeding the $13 million available in the state’s bond pool.

Justice-owned coal companies face liabilities in numerous other jurisdictions.

Sparkz CEO Bullish On Batteries And Building Them Here

Curtis Tate spoke with the company’s CEO, Sanjiv Malhotra, about those batteries and what made West Virginia a good fit.

With millions of dollars in federal support, Sparkz will soon begin building lithium batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles at a shuttered glass factory in Bridgeport.

Curtis Tate spoke with the company’s CEO, Sanjiv Malhotra, about those batteries and what made West Virginia a good fit.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tate: Describe the chemistry of the lithium batteries you’ll build. What are the advantages over nickel and cobalt?

Malhotra: So the other chemistry within lithium ion batteries is lithium iron phosphate, or in short, it’s called LFP, and that is the chemistry that Sparkz is focused on. It’s very stable, very safe. Much. Safer than (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and much lower cost than NMC. So this is much lower cost, almost about 40 percent lower in cost, and the life of the battery itself is about three to four times that of the NMC. LFP is about 5,000 cycles, whereas NMC is about 1,500 cycles. So all these advantages, you know, make LFP very attractive. The only challenge LFP has compared to NMC is the energy density, but we are addressing that by being able to provide ultra-fast charging. LFP, that’s our proprietary technology. That means ultra-fast charging means we can charge from zero to 100 percent in 15 to 20 minutes.

This is the catalyst to make the (electric vehicle) market transition from the early adopter market, which was crazy after energy density or after range, because range and energy density are a function of each other. But as you transition to the mass market, it’s not so much about range as it is about cost and charging time. Not everyone has access to chargers. So if you’re going to a public charging station, the faster you charge, then others can charge.

Tate: Why West Virginia?

Malhotra: Affordability of utilities, both power and water, and availability of land and accessibility. West Virginia essentially is accessible by Tennessee, the area where a lot of the electric vehicle manufacturers are located or are locating. Again, the same with Michigan, the same with Ohio. The most important, Curtis, is that the workforce is a very well trained workforce in safety, and safety plays a major role in battery manufacturing, because if the safety is compromised, you’re compromising the output of the battery, and that can be fairly hazardous. West Virginia, or essentially the coal sector, provides a lot of very well trained workforce. And two things, one is safety, the safety discipline, and second is process oriented. And those are the two key things when we look at manufacturing, this is you’re essentially producing a chemical. And this workforce is heavily trained, the workforce in West Virginia to produce chemicals. So that’s why West Virginia.

Tate: Will displaced mine and power plant workers be hired for these positions?

Malhotra: Yes, because you know it, I know it, Curtis, that the coal sector has, over the years, over the last couple of decades, diminished immensely in production, and that has resulted in several hundred, maybe thousands, of mine workers being displaced. So our intent is to bring folks from there. But there are others also, l not too far from where we are, in Morgantown, there is the (Mylan) pharmaceutical plant, which shut down. Shutting down that factory also resulted in (job losses for) very well trained workers, again, workers trained in the safety discipline and process. Our pharmaceutical industry is again a very similar industry to ours. So we will have a pick of the best from the coal community, as well as from Mylan.

Tate: There’s an election coming up. Are you concerned that a change in the White House could curb some of the clean energy investments that have helped you stand up your plant?

Malhotra: What I have heard from basically both the candidates is the same that this shall continue. Batteries are not just needed for electric vehicles. Batteries are needed for energy storage. The growth in the data center market is so significant I can’t even put a number to it, and there’s a huge delta in what our grid can supply for the data center market, especially with the growth in AI. If you look at Northern Virginia, that’s where the data center belt is happening, and data centers are happening in West Virginia as well.

So with utilities like Dominion and few others just racing ahead with basically locking up energy storage or batteries for the next five, 10, 15 years. So there’s a huge demand that we cannot even fathom at this point for energy storage. And if we lose this opportunity to manufacture and manufacture across the value chain, not just the complete battery, but across the value chain, the material for lithium batteries, the cells and the battery pack. We need to have that manufacturing set up in the United States in the next five, six, seven years, because if we miss the train, I think we are going to be losing out on whether it is electric mobility, whether it is renewables, whether it is the need for satisfying the power that data as we grow in digitalization.

Sierra Club Lawsuit Against PSC Coal Directive Set For Trial In 2025

A document filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia shows that attorneys for the PSC’s commissioners intend to seek a motion to dismiss the case.

A federal lawsuit by the Sierra Club against the West Virginia Public Service Commission likely won’t go to trial for another year.

The Sierra Club sued the PSC in August over its 2021 directive that Appalachian Power’s coal plants in West Virginia operate at an average of 69 percent capacity.

A document filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia shows that attorneys for the PSC’s commissioners intend to seek a motion to dismiss the case.

Should the case proceed, a trial will not take place until November 2025, the document shows.

The Sierra Club alleges that the commission’s directive raised rates for Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers, increasing 20 percent since the PSC issued the directive.

The company’s plants operate no more than half the time and typically well below that. Company officials have told the PSC that the plants became oversupplied with coal in recent months and had to operate them at a loss to safely manage their coal inventory.

The Sierra Club’s lawsuit challenges the PSC’s efforts to protect the dominance of coal in the state’s energy portfolio. West Virginia gets 89 percent of its electricity from coal, more than any other state.

An executive from American Electric Power, Appalachian Power’s parent, told Virginia regulators in August that the company is at least considering a conversion of its Mountaineer and John Amos plants in West Virginia from coal to gas.

The plants supply power to customers in both states. Virginia, unlike West Virginia, has pivoted sharply from coal to gas.

Union Carbide South Charleston Landfill Case Appealed To 4th Circuit

Courtland is appealing a late September decision by U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to impose a $200,000 civil penalty against Union Carbide for violating the Clean Water Act.

A real-estate company has appealed a federal judge’s ruling in a case against Union Carbide.

The Courtland Company, which owns property in South Charleston adjacent to a closed Union Carbide landfill, filed an appeal Friday with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia.

Courtland is appealing a late September decision by U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. to impose a $200,000 civil penalty against Union Carbide for violating the Clean Water Act.

Union Carbide’s Filmont Landfill in South Charleston operated for roughly three decades without stormwater discharge permits, with its contents leaching into nearby Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River.

In 2023, Copenhaver found that the site was an illegal open dump. Courtland sought civil penalties of more than $1 billion and for Copenhaver to order a cleanup supervised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under its Superfund program.

Instead, Copenhaver allowed Union Carbide to continue with a voluntary remediation of the site it had initiated with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

In a statement, Union Carbide said the company “is confident the court correctly rejected The Courtland Company, Inc.’s demands for excessive penalties and excessive remedial efforts.” It added that the Filmont remediation work continues.

The appeal continues a legal saga that began in 2018 when Courtland first sued Union Carbide.

The Fourth Circuit is regarded as more sympathetic to environmental concerns than other courts. It struck down multiple permits for the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline before Congress removed those cases from its jurisdiction.

Copenhaver, 99, is one of the last sitting federal judges appointed by President Gerald Ford.