President Trump, the EPA and the Ohio Valley et al

Here's an article that looks at how the opening days of the Trump administration affected EPA grants  that communities rely on for clean water and for brownfield redevelopment.

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There was something about President Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court that struck me a familiar, but I couldn't place it. Today I remembered. There used to be a Gorsuch power plant along the Ohio River near Marietta, Ohio, that was closed several years ago. It's been a while since I was up that way, so I can't say for certain whether the Richard H. Gorsuch power station remains standing or has been demolished.

More on Stuart and Killen

Dayton Power & Light announced this week that it intends to shut down the Stuart and Killen power plants along the Ohio River. The two plants in Ohio and are upriver from Maysville, Ky. The unanswered questions in the newspaper articles I read had to do with the fact that DP&L owns neither plant outright. It operates them, but AEP and Dynegy also have ownership interest.

This article that I found on platts.com answers some of those questions. While it does not specify what Dynegy's opinion is, as company spokesmen could not be reached for comment, it quotes an AEP spokesperson as saying that company tends to agree with the DP&L plan.

Stuart and Killen are powered by coal. This action makes me wonder about the futures of some other coal-fired plants along the river. I won't name them because it's just speculation right now, but in this environmental, regulatory and business environment, the future can be cloudy.