Two coal-fired plants in Pa. to shut, ending 380 jobs

FirstEnergy Corp. plans to deactivate two coal-fired power plants in Greene and Washington counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, and offers no hope that the plants will be reopened or their 380 jobs saved, Joe Napsha reports for the Tribune-Review in Pittsburgh. James H. Lash, president of FirstEnergy, told Napsha that the plants just outside Pittsburgh "are losing money today and will lose money in the future. Our plans are not to run those units again."

"Lash painted a grim future for coal-fired power plants, saying electricity is priced too low in a market where demand for power has dropped and the capital investment needed to meet environmental regulations is too high," Napsha reports. "Electricity prices have dropped 10 percent from summer to fall, while the cost of natural gas –which also is used as a fuel for power generation – remains at historic low levels because of the abundance of gas from supplies such as the Marcellus shale reserves, Lash said." (Read more)