Landfill OK'd for power plant

3/23/2009

LETART FALLS, Ohio - AMP-Ohio said it has moved closer to building its $3.3 billion coal-fired power plant in southeast Ohio by securing state authorization to build a 133-acre landfill next to it.

The landfill will be used to bury fly ash, bottom ash, and other combustion waste from the plant scheduled to be operating in late 2013 along the Ohio River in Meigs County.

The nonprofit wholesale power supplier said it is installing a technology to help minimize waste and that, with the landfill adjacent to the facility, no off-site hauling of ash will occur on public roads or right-of-ways.

The permit was issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Eighty-one of AMP-Ohio's member communities in four states have invested in the project. Twenty-five are in northwest Ohio, including Bowling Green, Napoleon, and Bryan.

The Andersons Inc. of Maumee agreed in 2007 to treat by-product generated by the plant's pollution-control technology and sell it as a fertilizer.

Still pending is an application for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wetlands permit.

The project is expected to provide 1,600 temporary construction jobs and 165 full-time operators.

AMP-Ohio of Columbus serves 126 member municipal electric systems in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia.