Regulators Ask Appalachian Power to Keep Infrastructure At Closed Plant

West Virginia regulators have asked Appalachian Power to maintain infrastructure at a closed coal-fired power plant that could be used to convert the facility to natural gas in the future.

The Public Service Commission says in a Tuesday order that fully demolishing the Kanawha River Plant would rule out such a conversion.

The PSC also says the utility should consider the implications of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The court said the Environmental Protection Agency should have considered the costs and benefits of its plan to impose limits on mercury and other hazardous air pollutants.

Appalachian Power has said it would be cost-prohibitive to equip the Kanawha River Plant and several other coal-fired plants to comply with the new standards.