MARSHALL COUNTY, W.Va.

 
American Electric Power's Kammer Plant in Marshall County is one of hundreds across the country set to close due to new Environmental Protection Agency mercury and air toxic standards.

 While AEP's Cardinal and Mitchell plants meet those cleaner air standards, the Kammer Plant is one of 11 owned by AEP that can't make the costly upgrades in the allotted time frame.

 Kammer Plant manager Dan Moyer said there is a lot at stake with the closure.

 "It impacts the community tremendously from a standpoint (that) we have a payroll of about $4.2 million and we pay property taxes in the area of about $1.7 million," said Moyer.

 On top of that, roughly $620,000 is given to state and local taxes, and 60 jobs will be affected by the closure.

 Also, local businesses are expected to feel the heat.

 "There are so many different suppliers for that power plant,  so there will be definite cutbacks in a lot of commercial businesses throughout the area," said Dave Knuth with the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce.

Possibly one of the biggest concerns is the effects on customers.  A potential increase in the cost of electric bills is not the only thing on the minds of AEP officials.

"Blackouts is a concern for us," said AEP spokeswoman Carmen Prati-Miller.

 However, Prati-Miller said she wants to make something very clear.

 "Just because the power is generated at this site, it doesn't mean that the power generated here literally is distributed locally," she said.

 But, that does not mean the Ohio Valley would not experience potential blackouts.

 The U.S. electricity grid is managed by companies such as PJM, which monitors the transmission of electricity in its designated region.

 PJM system operators monitor the system to keep the supply of electricity balanced with the demand for electricity and to watch for anything out of the ordinary.

The company transmits to several states, and with the high number of plants affected, any number of closures could affect the local area.

"PMJ worked with the EPA to develop a procedure so that if we receive a year’s notice that a plant will have to shut down because of the rules, it's possible for that plant to apply for and receive an extension to allow it to operate a little longer so that substitutes can be put into place to ensure that the electric system repairs are reliable," said PJM spokesman Ray Dotter.

 PJM conducted a study based on the new EPA regulations that showed there would be enough plants to maintain reliability.

 But Dotter said there could be local reliability concerns that need to be tackled.

 Retirement plans for the plants could change depending on the final form of the EPA regulations.

The EPA released this statement to NEWS9:

EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) are the first national Clean Air Act standards to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, the largest remaining source of mercury and acid gas emissions in the country. 

The science shows that mercury and toxic air pollution are a threat to public health and have real impacts on people's lives.

MATS--a rule that has been 20 years in the making--will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths and help cut cases of aggravated asthma among children by 130,000 cases.

The value of the health benefits from these standards total $37 billion to $90 billion each year.

The final standards will slash emissions of these pollutants by relying on widely available, proven pollution controls that are already in use at more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants. 

These standards are practical, achievable and a great victory for public health--especially the health of our children. Companies have up to four years to comply with MATS and EPA is actively working with stakeholders to design strategies and tools that will ensure smooth implementation.