Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Sunday, April 18, 2010
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
American Municipal Power (AMP), from which Martinsville buys wholesale electricity, still may build a power plant at an Ohio location where a similar project recently was discontinued.
Meanwhile, AMP member cities, including Martinsville, continue to try and find out how much money they owe toward the halted project.
Participants in the American Municipal Power Generating Station (AMPGS) project decided during a meeting April 7 to further examine a site in Meigs County, Ohio, to determine if it is suitable for construction of a plant using natural gas to produce electricity, according to an AMP release.
Martinsville Electric Department Superintendent Dennis Bowles was at that meeting in Columbus, Ohio, according to City Manager Clarence Monday. Bowles did not return phone calls for comment on the meeting.
In November, the coal-fired AMPGS project was discontinued because cost estimates from contractors came in too high.
That was one of three projects in which Martinsville City Council in February 2008 entered into agreements to participate in for 40 years.
The release states that if the Meigs County site is determined suitable for a natural gas-fired plant, construction would depend on whether economic and infrastructure incentives and tax abatements are received for the project.
AMP also had been considering a site in the Danville area for a natural gas-fired plant. The release indicates that site no longer will be considered if the Meigs County project receives the incentives and abatements.
As an alternative to that project, AMP is exploring options to “partner with a third party” or buy one of several other natural gas-fired power plants being developed in the region surrounding Meigs County, the release says.
A final decision on the Meigs County site is expected in early summer, the release adds.
Martinsville buys more than 30 percent of its wholesale power through AMP, an Ohio organization owned by its member cities. Those cities, which include Martinsville, then sell the power to customers of their electric departments.
City officials and consultants have said that by taking part in AMP projects, it could be cheaper for the city to buy power from projects that it has some control over than rely solely on the wholesale power market, which has been subject to price fluctuations.
Martinsville’s pro-rated share of the development costs of the ceased Meigs County project has been estimated at $2.08 million. Councilman Danny Turner has expressed fear that the actual amount could be much more.
City officials have said whatever Martinsville owes can be paid over a 10- to 15-year period through its costs for electricity bought through AMP.
Monday said AMP officials told AMPGS participants that “it could be 12 to 18, or even 24, months” before they find out how much they actually owe toward the development costs.
That is due to ongoing litigation between AMP and a contractor involved in the project, city officials have said.
“We don’t have a schedule yet” and do not know when a final cost will be determined, AMP Senior Communications Director Kent Carson said Friday.
Monday would not discuss information he received from the April 7 meeting. He said he understands AMP considers it to be “business confidential” and so it is not appropriate to release it publicly.
A memo that the Painesville City Council in Ohio received on April 12 from Painesville City Manager Rita McMahon regarding the April 7 meeting states that “the final determination of costs will be complicated by complex legal issues.”
Those issues include “the termination of supplier and contractor contracts and wrap-up of construction activities at the Meigs County site,” McMahon wrote in the memo.
AMPGS participants, the memo states, were told during the meeting that “no AMP member community will be invoiced for, or pay any of these costs, until a detailed accounting is completed, made available to the participants and reviewed by them.”
“This final determination is not expected for some time,” the memo adds.
McMahon did not return calls for comment on the memo, a copy of which was provided to the Martinsville Bulletin by Turner. He said he received his copy by e-mail from Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizens Action, a nonprofit, grassroots consumer advocacy organization.
Buchanan could not be reached for comment. Turner said the memo “didn’t have any confidential stamp on it.”
Painesville is a city of comparable population to Martinsville in northeast Ohio, near Cleveland. AMP’s web site says Painesville is a member of the organization. |
| |
|
|
