| Our Sources Say |
Action in D.C. can hit close to home
W
hen the electricity goes off, Alabama Power’s linemen But with the loss of coal at Plant Greene County come other spring into action. After a storm or an accident, they losses. Two years ago, we had 126 employees at the plant. After mobilize quickly to repair the lines and get customers we complete the transition to natural gas, we expect 65 posiback to normal. tions to remain. But what happens when Washington turns the power off ? I am thankful that the reductions don’t mean layoffs. We are Across Alabama, the use of coal as a reliable and affordable hopeful that through attrition, retirements and transfers, no source of energy is on the decline—in large part because of fedAlabama Power worker at Plant Greene County will be unemeral regulations. ployed. But some will have to relocate. And it is painful for evIn Alabama Power’s footprint alone, two coal units have been eryone. retired at Plant Gorgas in Walker Customers are impacted, too. County and one at Plant Barry in Ultimately, the cost of these federal Mobile County. regulations are passed on to them. At Plant Gaston in Shelby CounNearly one in five Alabama Power ty, four coal units have been concustomers lives below the poverty verted to natural gas. Two more line. Many are on fixed incomes. coal units at Plant Barry and two at We must not forget that. Plant Gadsden in Etowah County What’s more, removing abunhave switched from coal to using dant, affordable coal hinders our only natural gas. ability to be flexible on fuel choices. Finally, two units at Plant Greene It takes away our leverage to make County, which I manage, are unthe most cost-effective decisions on dergoing the same fate. how to generate energy. It can also Why? Because mandates from affect reliability if there is a sudden Washington are forcing our hand. shortage of, say, natural gas. The irony is that coal-fired generFor half a century, Plant Greene ation on the whole has never been County has been one of the premier cleaner. employers in the area. We make Alabama Power has spent $3 up the majority of the county’s tax billion—with a “b”—in the last 12 base. We don’t want that to change. years on environmental controls. So the conversion to natural gas, We are completing another bilwhile difficult and costly, is better lion-dollar investment right now to than the alternative: closing the address additional environmental plant for good. regulations. Washington D.C. may seem far Unfortunately, it’s not enough. TOP: One of the last coal barges awaits its fate away from Greene County, AlaThere are even more costly environ- BOTTOM: Plant Manager Riley Wells bama. But what happens there can mental rules coming down the pike hit extremely close to home. that will impact coal-fired plants. Federal mandates are not just These changes affect more than a company. They affect the words on a page—or, in the case of many of these environmencommunity. tal regulations, hundreds of pages. At Plant Greene County, I’ve had the privilege of working They affect customers—the businesses that supply us—the with some of the most dedicated and loyal people I’ve ever met. local economy—and people’s livelihoods. They are having an They are the backbone of the Black Belt. impact, right here and right now. In March, I witnessed the last coal barge being unloaded at Plant Greene County. And I watched the dozers push the last piles of coal into the hoppers that load the conveyors that will Riley Wells has been plant no longer be needed to feed the boilers that produce the steam manager for Alabama used to turn on the turbine-generators that light up our counPower’s Plant Greene tryside. County since March 2013. He lives in Demopolis with It’s truly the end of an era. What will not end is our commithis wife and three children. ment to serve our customers in West Alabama and beyond.
52 MAY 2016
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