Complicated Deal for Proposed WV Gas-Powered Electric Plant

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Last week MDN told you about the proposed Marcellus gas-powered electrical generating plant proposed for Moundsville, WV (see Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Coming to Marshall County, WV). To make the plant profitable to run, the owners have proposed a complicated deal whereby the county would end up owning the land and assets and lease them back to the operators (“owners”) thereby reducing what would have been hundreds of millions in property and school taxes to virtually nothing in taxes. For example, the local Moundsville school district would get something like $4 million instead of $181 million over 30 years, under the deal–if it’s approved.

Those numbers may seem out of kilter until you consider this: Currently the property is a contaminated EPA Superfund site with nothing on it–earning the school district and the county nothing in taxes. Zero. Under the deal proposed by Moundsville Power, the school would get $4 million, and the county would receive nearly $40 million in lease payments over the next 30 years. So let’s do the math: $0 or $44 million over the next 30 years, plus an added 30 permanent jobs at the plant and all of the economic stimulation the plant will bring to the local economy with purchases of goods and services. Pretty easy decision if you ask us. Here’s more on the complicated deal to build the power plant in Moundsville…

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