SALEM — Tomorrow's meeting between power plant owner Dominion and state regulators has been shrouded in drama and mystery. Local environmentalists have called for the plant to close and have used cable television, newspaper advertisements and the Internet to launch an all-out assault to "stop the plant" and "save the planet."
Despite the buildup, it appears the meeting with the state Department of Environmental Protection will be anticlimactic. Dominion will not announce plans to close or even to phase out the coal-and-oil-burning plant, according to local officials who have spoken with plant executives.
Instead, the company is expected to announce that it will continue to use low-emission coal and oil to stay in compliance with pollution regulations and will make a modest investment of $10 million to $15 million to install additional controls.
The power company will emphasize, those officials say, that it operates within legal limits today and has a plan to comply with the new and tougher regulations that take effect in 2011 and 2012.
"They have absolutely no intention of closing the plant," said state Rep. John Keenan, who took part in plant negotiations with the state when he was city solicitor a few years ago. "Their interest is in running the plant and continuing to meet regulations today and into the future."
Even one of the state's leading environmental organizations, the Conservation Law Foundation, which will take part in tomorrow's meeting in Wilmington, is not expecting any dramatic news.
"All indications are they feel they can make the (regulations) easily," said Shanna Vale, a staff attorney.
The Salem News reached Dominion officials yesterday, but the company did not respond to requests for information by the newspaper's deadline.
There are reasons for all the drama surrounding Salem Harbor Station. The power plant is in the midst of a topsy-turvy decade in which, under a former owner, it announced everything from its intention to shut down to pie-in-the-sky plans to build a $400 million all-coal plant.
During that time, the state has adopted increasingly strict pollution regulations to limit greenhouse gases linked to global warming — regulations that have raised questions about how this 50-year-old facility can keep chugging along. So far, Dominion, the Virginia company that bought the plant three years ago, seems to have done it largely by purchasing "cleaner" coal and oil that produce fewer dangerous emissions.
Committed to Salem?
One North Shore activist who wants the coal plant to close notes that the company has spent much more money at its Brayton Point coal plant in Somerset and questions the commitment to Salem.
"I think their plan is to run (Salem) into the ground, which is incredibly unfortunate and raises all sorts of safety issues and health issues," said Jane Bright of HealthLink.
This week's meeting comes against a tragic backdrop. In November, three plant workers were killed when a steam pipe exploded. The plant was shut down for several months following the accident, and the boiler that failed is still not back in service — although company officials say it's close.
The meeting also comes as both the state and local communities are paying more attention to renewable energy and to reducing "carbon footprints." However, coal plants produce about half the country's electrical power and are still considered by many to be an important part of the energy mix.
On Thursday afternoon, Dominion will announce its plans at a meeting with DEP regulators, the Conservation Law Foundation, the North Shore environmental group HealthLink, Mayor Kim Driscoll and others. Keenan, who will not attend but has talked to Dominion officials, expects "good news" for the city.
"They're going to continue to operate a business that is a substantial taxpayer in the city of Salem and meet their environmental regulations," he said.
Salem Harbor Station, a 745-megawatt plant, employs about 150 and paid $4.75 million last year in taxes and fees, seven times as much as the city's No. 2 taxpayer, Shetland Properties.
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