HARRISBURG – Sen. Dave Argall (R-29) is questioning a new energy plan from Gov. Josh Shapiro that jeopardizes the future of four local coal refuse plants in Schuylkill and Carbon Counties.
“It’s stunning to me that we were able to work with Gov. Wolf, despite our differences, to help our local coal refuse plants survive in a difficult environment, and now Gov. Shapiro is telling them to ‘Drop Dead!’” said Argall.
“Anyone who has lived, worked, or traveled through our area is very familiar with the mountains of waste coal that once littered the landscape. These black mountains have been steadily disappearing for three decades, thanks to these plants. Sites that were choked with coal waste for a century have been transformed into green hills and forests.
“This decades-long effort is now at risk. By proposing this new carbon tax, Shapiro is also putting good, local family-sustaining jobs at risk, straining the stability and reliability of our power grid, and putting Pennsylvania’s status as a leading energy producer in question.
“If the governor’s new plan becomes law, it could undo years of bipartisan work to support our ‘cogens,’ and many of the black and grey wastelands left behind by past mining operations will remain for hundreds of more years.”
Argall is asking Shapiro to reconsider this effort to kill abandoned mine land remediation efforts across Pennsylvania and to instead work with people in this region to draft a new energy plan.
In 2019 and 2020, Argall and former Sen. John Yudichak championed two pieces of bipartisan legislation to help these plants survive, both of which were signed into law by Wolf. During a public hearing on the impact of this legislation on the coal refuse industry in 2022, testifiers noted that without it, most of these plants would now be closed. Details of Shapiro’s new energy plan indicate that it would undo much of this progress.
According to the PA Department of Environmental Protection, coal refuse plants in Pennsylvania have successfully reclaimed over 7,200 acres of abandoned mine land and restored more than 1,200 miles of polluted streams. They remove piles of waste coal to create electricity while also filling in abandoned strip mines.
Four coal reclamation plants are located in Schuylkill and Carbon Counties, including Rausch Creek Generation in Tremont, Panther Creek Energy Facility in Nesquehoning, Schuylkill Energy Resources in Shenandoah, and John B. Rich Memorial Power Station near Frackville.
CONTACT: Jim Brugger, 717-787-2637