The Charleston Gazette, WV Metro, and Ogden Newspapers all covered yesterday’s hearings about the rate hike that is needed to keep the Mitchell Power Plant in Marshall County running. Here is the headline on the WV Metro News article:

Appalachian Power president says closing Mitchell plant would save ratepayers $27 million annually

This morning’s Charleston Gazette-Mail headline was similar:

AEP witnesses admit early Marshall County coal-fired plant shutdown would save ratepayers millions, cost hundreds of jobs

And while both reports highlighted what keeping the power plant active would cost taxpayers, they also noted the economic impact that such a closure would have on Marshall County.

Here is the headline from this morning’s Wheeling Intelligencer:

PSC Hearings For And Against Mitchell Plant Begin

The headline suggests balance and while those opposed to coal plants were given some coverage, there was no mention of the cost to taxpayers – most of the report is about the harms that would result from closing the plant. For a news source that uses “increasing the cost to consumers” as a reason to oppose any Democratic proposal, I guess $27 million annually is apparently not large enough to mention.

Local WTRF’s coverage featured our local congressman

As part of a statewide network, local TV station WTRF often relies on WOWK for its state news. On Sunday, as part of its “Inside West Virginia” program, reporter Mark Curtis interviewed local representative David McKinley about the plant closing. McKinley once again brought up last winter’s power crisis in Texas to support his “all-of-above energy plan.” (Curtis offered no pushback to McKinley’s assertions about what went wrong in Texas.) Interestingly, McKinley did admit that the cost of saving the power plant will be borne by taxpayers.