Duke Energy is unsure what will happen to the W.C. Beckjord Station in New Richmond after it is decommissioned.

Duke Energy is unsure what will happen to the W.C. Beckjord Station in New Richmond after it is decommissioned.
By Kelly Doran
Sun staff

The fate of the W.C. Beckjord Station in New Richmond after Duke Energy decommissions the plant is currently uncertain.

When a plant is decommissioned, the company has to follow Environmental Protection Agency steps and meet certain criteria, said Warren Walker, district manager.

The end goal right now is to meet compliancy. As for the future of the site, Duke is not currently marketing the property and does not currently have any plans to sell it, Walker said.

A significant amount of high voltage transmission lines are still operational, so even though the coal fired units will be decommissioned, there will still be activity at the plant with the lines, Walker said.

Duke decided to shut down the 62-year-old plant because, like many other coal plants, it would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it up to then-new EPA standards, Walker said. It is less expensive to shut it down.

Duke retired unit one in 2012, units two and three in 2013, unit four in early 2014 and units five and six on Sept. 1, 2014, according to a press release in April.

It will take at least three to five years for cleanup and another five to seven years for final clearing and cleaning, and land restoration, Walker said.

There are three phases to shutting down the plant: decommissioning, demolition and restoration, according to a mailer distributed to residents within two miles of the plant.

This year, Duke will relocate the coal, decommission, do asbestos abatement, relocate electrical equipment and do studies about ash basin closure.

In 2016, and 2017 Duke will demolish the water tank, precipitators, coal handling equipment, auxiliary buildings and structures and more, according to the mailer.

In 2018, Duke plans to being restoring the plant site.

There is a grant made available through the U.S. Economic Development Administration as the Partnership for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization initiative allocating $35 million a year to help communities impacted by a coal power plant closure, said Andy Kuchta, the Clermont County director of community and economic development.

A community can get either a planning grant, to fund someone coming in a studying the property, or an implementation grant, to fund putting a plan into action, Kuchta said.

The grant money helps counteract the economic downturn a community experiences when a coal plant closes, said Timothy Hershner, Pierce Township administrator.

“It’s a big property we’d love to see something happen on,” Hershner said.

Kuchta has discussed the possibility of applying for the grant with officials from Pierce Township, New Richmond and Clermont Chamber of Commerce so they could bring in engineers to look at the plant and give them suggestions of what it could be used for, he said.

The grant is supposed to be renewed next year also, so there will likely be another chance to apply for it, Kuchta said.

However, Duke does not want to participate in the grant, Hershner said, because they’re going to be spending the next several years decommissioning the property.

Hershner said he respects Duke’s property rights but he finds it suspicious if Duke doesn’t want an outside coming onto the property. Also, because of the connections Pierce Township and its residents have had with Duke, there’s nothing at that plant that would surprise him, Hershner said.

He is disappointed that Duke is not willing to work with them, but said he appreciates their concern about cleanup.

“We would like to think that we are their partner in making something good happen,” Hershner said. He hopes that Duke and Pierce Township can partner in the future to make something happen at the plant.

Duke is not turning a deaf ear to the concerns of the township, but wants to decommission the plant before discussing any other plans, Walker said.

Duke is working with the county in other areas, such as the Agenda for the Future and workforce development with the Chamber, Walker said.