Election Results and Drought Conditions, This West Virginia Week

On this West Virginia Week, Jim Justice, the state’s two-term Republican governor, won a decisive victory in the race for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s general election. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s three-term attorney general, won the governorship, continuing a conservative shift in state leadership.

Meanwhile, parts of West Virginia have been experiencing drought conditions, with the Department of Forestry fighting 82 wildfires in the southern coalfields this week. Also, West Virginians can apply for assistance covering home heating costs for the upcoming winter months.

Emily Rice is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.

West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Caelan Bailey, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick, Maria Young and Randy Yohe.

Learn more about West Virginia Week.

PSC Lawyers Ask Court For Dismissal Of Sierra Club Lawsuit

Lawyers for PSC Commissioners Charlotte Lane, Bill Raney and Renee Larrick say the Sierra Club lacks standing to sue the commission over a 2021 directive affecting Appalachian Power coal plants.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by the Sierra Club.

Lawyers for PSC Commissioners Charlotte Lane, Bill Raney and Renee Larrick say the Sierra Club lacks standing to sue the commission over a 2021 directive affecting Appalachian Power coal plants.

The Sierra Club alleges that the directive, which binds Appalachian Power to operate the plants 69 percent of the time, higher than they or most other plants actually do, has led to an increase in raised rates for West Virginia electricity customers.

The commissioners’ lawyers on Monday asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to dismiss the case, filed in August by the Sierra Club on behalf of two members, Bruce Perrone and Rosanna Long. 

They say the connection between the directive and rates cannot be proved. 

While the PSC has sought a dismissal of the case, Appalachian Power has moved to become involved in the lawsuit, according to court filings. A trial would not take place for another year.

In a separate case in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, Appalachian Power is challenging the PSC’s January ruling that denied the company the recovery of a portion of its $550 million fuel balance incurred in 2021 and 2022 when the price of coal soared.

A decision is expected sometime in the coming weeks.

Appalachian Power has also refiled its base rate case with the PSC, offering a 4 percent increase that would be pay off bonds over the course of 20 years. That’s the alternative to the double-digit rate increase the company originally proposed.

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.

One Of Coal’s Top Foes Looks To Clean Energy Future For State

For a decade, Mary Anne Hitt led the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. 

For a decade, Mary Anne Hitt led the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. 

As West Virginians grapple with the rising cost of maintaining coal’s dominance over the state’s electricity supply, Curtis Tate spoke with her about what’s changed and what hasn’t.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Tate: You said you left the Sierra Club in 2021. What changes have you seen since then?

Hitt: Well, a couple of big changes come to mind. One is we have had this concentrated period of all of these rate increases from AEP (American Electric Power) and First Energy that have really been tied to how much coal the state is insistent on using. And so I think that the public frustration with that has kind of reached a peak that I hadn’t seen before. Multiple rate increases over just a couple of years, and now our electric bills are going up faster than almost any other state in the country. I have seen for the first time people really questioning whether it’s in our financial interest, for our families and for our state, to just keep insisting that we’re going to burn so much coal and refusing to diversify our energy mix. That’s one thing that I feel like is changing. 

Another thing that’s changed is we’ve had the Inflation Reduction Act pass, and that has created an incredible amount of new opportunity here in the state for clean energy. There’s, by one measure, over 5,000 new clean energy jobs in the state. Here in West Virginia, there’s also all of these programs for supporting coal communities as they make an economic transition. I’ve heard some economic development folks in the state call it a once-in-a-generation opportunity to really reinvest in making West Virginia part of the 21st century energy economy.

Tate: Is any of the state’s policy trying to stymie clean energy?

Hitt: Here in West Virginia, there are a lot of hurdles and roadblocks for clean energy. We just have seen over the last few months, the big utilities have tried to reduce net metering. They have tried to reduce what kind of financial benefit you can get from having solar on your rooftop. And so as we are in a time when we need more energy, and we need that energy to be clean, we have our utilities here in West Virginia that are trying to make it harder to build clean energy in the state, and that is certainly the wrong direction to be going. We are going to be grappling with this need for more electricity at a time of a climate crisis, and at a time when we’re all dealing with the effects of air and water pollution. Let’s try to make as much of that energy clean as possible. Let’s not go in the opposite direction here in West Virginia.

Tate: The EPA has issued new, tougher standards for power plants, and they’ve been challenged in court. Where do you see that going?

Hitt: The coal plant operators are never happy about those stronger pollution standards, because it requires them to make financial investments in those plants to clean them up. But we have some of the dirtiest coal plants in the country, here in West Virginia, from both the air pollution and a water pollution standpoint. These are just common sense public health safeguards to deal with the air pollution and the water pollution from these coal plants. And they are, of course, being challenged in the courts. Every single EPA pollution standard has the industry running right to the Supreme Court if they can to try to get them to intervene. But I think the reality is these EPA standards that are dealing with this air and water pollution are really common sense. Kind of bread and butter. EPA doing its job of protecting public health. While they might be challenged in the courts, I think they’ll ultimately be upheld, and that will result in cleaner air and water for people here in West Virginia.

Tate: In addition to coal, West Virginia has an abundance of natural gas. Why shouldn’t we use that to generate electricity?

Hitt: The prices for the gas to fuel power plants has just skyrocketed in recent years, and then it’s crashed, and it skyrocketed, and then it’s crashed, and so that leaves West Virginia families and businesses vulnerable to ever skyrocketing electricity prices. Meanwhile when you look at solar and wind power, the fuel for that electricity is free. It’s the wind, it’s the sun, and so we could lock ourselves into another generation of an energy source that is polluting and is also going to continue to drive up our electricity bills. There’s much more of a volatile price for gas than there is for coal, because it’s sold all around the world, versus starting to make that move towards wind and solar and storing that clean energy where the fuel is coming from the heavens. We can be making and building that clean energy right here at home in West Virginia.

Tate: Gas producers will say it’s needed to balance out the intermittency of renewables. Are they wrong?

Hitt: Obviously you couldn’t turn off every coal and gas plant on the grid today, and only count on renewable energy. But over time, I think it’s a question of where, where are we making investments? Do we want those dollars invested in building out the renewable energy and ways to store that renewable energy? Or do we want to build out new gas resources that are going to lock us into a more polluting and volatile source of energy? For now, yes, coal and gas are part of the mix that is keeping the lights on, but we’re talking about, how do we plan for the future? And West Virginia is very far behind when it comes to clean energy.

Tate: What’s the role of battery storage?

Hitt: There are states across this country, like Texas, California, all over the country that have a lot of battery storage that is now actually quite affordable. Wind or solar with energy storage is cheaper than running an existing coal plant just about everywhere in this country. It’s not just here, but it’s here at the right scale. It’s here at the right cost. This is the kind of exciting opportunity that we can be part of here too in West Virginia. We can also be part of building those batteries and building those solar panels and building those wind turbines to be used all over the country. And the Inflation Reduction Act has a lot of incentives for clean energy manufacturing here in the United States, and a lot of those opportunities are starting to come to West Virginia. So it’s not just about the energy that we’re using in the state, it’s about building the businesses and the industries and the jobs here to be powering the rest of the country, as we have for so long, but powering the 21st century energy economy here in America.

Tate: Are the recent investments in clean energy in West Virginia at risk if there’s a change in the White House or the Congress?

Hitt: While these issues can become partisan around clean energy or climate, once those jobs start to land here at home, I think it becomes less of a partisan issue and more of a hopefully bipartisan economic development opportunity. I hope that we’re turning that corner, and our congressional delegation here in West Virginia and our neighboring states, our state leadership will really see that these incentives are helping us keep our young people in the state, create new economic opportunity, attract new businesses to the state, and that it’s in everybody’s interest to keep them and expand them.

Investigating Timber Theft And The Beyond Coal Campaign, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, U.S. attorneys investigate a suspected timber theft and a discussion about West Virginia’s energy future.

On this West Virginia Morning, a West Virginia logging firm has been accused of stealing ten acres of timber – some of it from trees estimated to be 100 years old – from the Monongahela National Forest. Maria Young caught up with U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld of the Northern District of West Virginia, whose office has filed suit against the firm, to find out what happened and what outdoor enthusiasts can do if they come across something that looks suspicious.

Also, Mary Anne Hitt led the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign for a decade. As West Virginians grapple with the rising cost of maintaining coal’s dominance over the state’s electricity supply, she spoke with Curtis Tate about what’s changed and what hasn’t.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Public Anger Builds Over Appalachian Power’s Rate Proposal

The state Public Service Commission, tasked with regulating public utilities, is getting an earful about Appalachian Power’s proposal to raise rates. 

Coal may keep the lights on in West Virginia, but keeping the lights on is costing Appalachian Power customers more.

The state Public Service Commission, tasked with regulating public utilities, is getting an earful about Appalachian Power’s proposal to raise rates. 

Its docket has been filled with comments from residents opposing the company’s latest rate increase since it was announced in early August. The Kanawha and Fayette county commissions and the Lincoln County Schools superintendent have joined the chorus.

Appalachian Power is asking residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours a month to pay an additional $28.72.

That’s in a state where 18 percent of residents live in poverty, above the national average of 13 percent. Median household income in West Virginia is $20,000 less than what it is nationwide.

Though the PSC suspended the proposed 17 percent increase until next May, people have already spoken out at PSC hearings. Community groups held a protest in August in Charleston outside Appalachian Power’s offices.

“There’s, I think, a growing groundswell of anger about utility rates,” said Sean O’Leary, a senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute. He’s tracked the operations and costs of coal-burning power plants in the region for years.

Opponents cite the economic hardships they already faced without the additional cost of power.

Shawna Phillips of West Virginians for Energy Freedom said during the protest at Appalachian Power’s office that church groups helped her pay a $600 electric bill when she was threatened with a shutoff in late 2022.

“Now if they hadn’t come through, I would have had my lights off for Christmas,” she said. “And that ain’t right. That ain’t right.”

Marie Moten of Beckley told the PSC in a public hearing that she can’t afford to pay her power bill and her medical expenses, especially with a disabled daughter.

“I need help,” she said. “Other people need help, and please do not send that power bill up anymore. We can’t stand it. Have mercy on us. We cannot stand it.”

‘Just Fed Up’

West Virginia relies almost exclusively on coal to produce electricity. The state is the nation’s second leading coal producer behind Wyoming. The industry contributes jobs and tax revenues that the state and many communities need.

O’Leary says the public support for coal may not be as ironclad as it once was, especially with the rising cost of electricity.

“My sense is that people are just fed up,” he said.

When Appalachian Power announced its intent to seek a rate increase on Aug. 2, the company cited inflation, higher interest rates and the cost of maintenance.

It, along with its Wheeling Power affiliate, said it had spent $1 billion on generation, transmission and distribution, as well as $118 million on storm recovery.

Karen Wissing, a spokeswoman for Appalachian Power, said the company would work with stakeholders to mitigate the impact of the rate increase but offered no further details.

“We recognize that our rate review application comes at a time when costs for many products and services, including electricity, are increasing,” she said. “Those same types of increases have created the need for us to file our base rate increase request, which is our first base rate case filing since 2018.” 

A PSC spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Losing Money

The 17 percent increase is hardly the first electricity customers have been asked to absorb in recent years.

On Sept. 1, two separate increases will take effect for Appalachian Power customers. One adds $2.71 for environmental compliance costs. The second adds $2.50 a month for 10 years to pay for fuel costs the company incurred in 2021 and 2022, when energy prices skyrocketed.

Appalachian Power is now asking for another $2 a month for fuel costs. That fuel is mostly coal. The PSC has to approve it. It has approved almost every past increase.

West Virginia is more dependent on coal for electricity than any other state in the country. Other states have transitioned away from coal and toward natural gas and renewables in recent years.

Data show both that Appalachian Power’s three coal plants operate less than half the time and that they lose money when they do.

An energy analyst, in written testimony to the PSC, said the John Amos, Mountaineer and Mitchell plants lost a combined $87 million in a recent 12-month period.

An Appalachian Power witness told the commission that the company had too much coal on site at the plants and ran the plants to reduce its inventory, though at a loss.

Too Much Coal

Why do they have so much coal? According to the Sierra Club, it’s because in 2021, the PSC directed Appalachian Power to run its plants as much as 69 percent of the time. None of the company’s plants currently achieve that, and few anywhere come close.

The Sierra Club has sued the PSC in federal court over the directive. Jim Kotcon, chair of the Sierra Club’s West Virginia chapter, says the PSC directive pushed Appalachian Power to engage in costly coal contracts, which led to an oversupply.

“We believe, and I think the evidence shows, that they initiated those contracts in part to satisfy the Public Service Commission’s directive that they run at a 69 percent capacity factor,” he said.

The Sierra Club says Appalachian Power’s rates are up 20 percent in just the three years since the commission issued the 69 percent directive.

Despite evidence that other resources, including gas, wind and solar, would be cheaper for the state’s electricity customers, O’Leary said the PSC continues to extend the state’s reliance on coal.

“They’ve just engaged in a series of decisions that have,” he said, “caused electric rates in West Virginia to climb, primarily to perpetuate markets for coal.”

It may be months before the PSC takes up the Appalachian Power rate case.

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