CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three days are set aside this week for the West Virginia Public Service Commission to decide if First Energy’s Mon Power Company should be allowed to take ownership of the Pleasants Power Station in St. Mary’s.
“There are 27 witnesses the commission will be hearing from, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday,” said Susan Small with the PSC. “The commission does have the flexibility to extend that, it’s also not uncommon for the commission to start very early and go very late on these kinds of hearings.”
The field hearings to collect public comment were heavily attended with a lot of attention to the idea. Those both for and against the idea of the company acquiring the massive coal fired generation plan showed up at those events in Martinsburg, Parkesburg, and Morgantown. All of those hearings allowed the commission to hear from those individuals who are not formal parties to the case. The week will be the evidence phase of the process.
“It’s the opportunity for the parties in the case to question each other,” said Small. “This allows for the questioning on particulars of the case and the commission can ask all parties about their positions.”
Once the evidence is presented, there is no timeline on when the PSC must issue a final ruling on the plan.
“There could be another round of testimony filed after the evidence hearing and then the commission will take all of the evidence into consideration,” said Small. “That will include comments made at the public comment hearings, each of the letters written, and comments filed on line.They’ll look at all of the evidence and all of the opinions and issue a final order.”
The Morgantown City Council will consider a resolution at their informal Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday expressing opposition to the sale of the Pleasants Power Station. That resolution could appear at the next regular City Council meeting in October.