Prairie State Coal Plant Tracker

Paul Bender, the city of Cleveland’s new head of public utilities.

CLEVELAND, OH — “At Bender’s swearing-in ceremony last month, Jackson praised him for his range and depth of experience and said Bender will play a critical role in ensuring the future viability of the city’s utilities.

But not everyone is sold on the new director just yet.

Environmentalists say they have yet to see where Bender stands on controversial issues involving Cleveland Public Power. The city is still studying the possibility of building a waste-to-energy plant, which would burn trash to generate electricity. And the utility is snagged in expensive long-term contracts with coal-burning power plants. In one case, a plant was never even built, but the city is on the hook for millions of dollars in stranded costs. The failed plant is at the heart of a pending lawsuit, involving CPP and a consortium of other cities that signed the deal.

Bender said in a recent interview that he has only begun to review CPP’s contracts and energy portfolio. He also deflected questions about the waste-to-energy plant, stating that the mayor is taking the lead on that issue.”

— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer

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DANVILLE, VA — “An August report claims that Prairie State is not living up to its promises, creating a monstrous liability for everyone with an ownership share and driving up energy costs for consumers in multiple states.

AMP has challenged the study done by the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis, saying it was authored and paid for by anti-coal groups.

…King and Danville Utilities Director Steve Saum say they are not displeased with Prairie State’s per megawatt price. They say the drawbacks have been congestion charges and transmission costs: Power from Prairie State has to cross two grids to get to Southside, in effect crossing two toll booths on the energy superhighway before it reaches Danville.

King and Saum say Prairie State can still pay off, and that if the economy turns around and drives up energy costs, it will still be a good investment. They aren’t unhappy with it now.

‘All things considered, it’s right in line with what we expected and the prices we expected,’ King said.”

— Mary Beth Jackson, GoDanRiver.com

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Statewide electricity rates show dramatic differences in Ohio, sometimes even between neighbors

CELINA, OH — “Most of Ohio’s municipal utilities are members of American Municipal Power, a Columbus-based company that manages energy purchases. AMP encouraged its members to buy shares in several new power plants, including the Prairie State Energy Campus in southwestern Illinois. The project has suffered mechanical problems and budget overruns. They could contribute to future rate increases in the communities that bought into it, including Galion, Cleveland, Hamilton and dozens of others. Columbus’ and Westerville’s utilities did not buy into the plant.

Celina, which owns a small share of Prairie State, has kept its rates low by carefully managing its expenses and because it has a large industrial base for a city its size, said Mayor Jeffrey Hazel. But he gets more complaints about rates than pats on the back.

‘The majority of people, just by human nature, don’t look outside themselves,’ he said. ‘It would be rare for someone from Celina to go outside the city to see what other people pay.’”

— Dan Gearino, Columbus Dispatch

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CHICAGO, IL — “— A group of four city council members, including one from Cleveland, have asked the Ohio Attorney General to launch an investigation into the controversial bond-financed Prairie State Energy Campus that opened last year after cost overruns and delays.

…Ohio-based American Municipal Power, which has a 23% interest in the coal-fired plant, and Peabody Energy Plant, the company that led initial efforts to develop the joint power agency-owned project and later sold most of its share, disclosed within the last two months that they have received SEC subpoenas.

The southern Illinois coal-fired plant, which includes a coal plant and adjacent coal mine, has come under fire for construction delays and cost overruns that drove up the price for energy beyond what public utilities had expected to pay when they bought into the project.

Public utilities in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio issued $4.5 billion of debt, up from original projections of $1.8 billion. The bonds are secured payments from more than 200 municipalities that have contracts with the project.”

— Caitlin Devitt, Bond Buyer

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MARTINSVILLE, WV — “A federal investigation into a company’s involvement in a coal-fired power plant should not affect Martinsville, which receives about 15 percent of its electricity from the plant, a city official said Monday.

Peabody Energy Corp. and American Municipal Power (AMP) have received subpoenas as part of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe pertaining to the Prairie State Energy Campus in Illinois, according to Midwest media reports.

‘The SEC is investigating (the role of) Peabody, not AMP,’ city Utilities Director Dennis Bowles emphasized. Peabody is a coal company. AMP is a nonprofit organization based in Ohio through which Martinsville buys wholesale electricity. They are among eight energy utilities that own Prairie State.

— Martinsville Bulletin

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CHICAGO, IL – “Ohio-based American Municipal Power Inc. – a part-owner of the bond-financed Prairie State Energy Campus – has received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission tied to the project, according to public documents obtained by an environmental group.

AMP – which has a 23% interest in the controversial coal-fired project — has not disclosed the SEC subpoena in any of its Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board filings and the agency did not return calls Friday to comment.

The information came from city of Cleveland documents released Friday by Ohio Citizen Action. The SEC, which does not require an issuer to disclose the receipt of a subpoena, declined to comment.

The group received the documents Friday from Cleveland’s Public Records Administrator in response to a request sent Feb. 24 via email by its executive director, Sandy Buchanan. The group sought copies of any documents held by Cleveland Public Power, the mayor’s office, and the Cleveland Department of Finance ‘related to the Prairie State coal plant…from Nov. 1, 2012 to the present.’”

— Yvette Shields and Caitlin Devitt, The Bond Buyer

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Prairie State plant development under scrutiny

CLEVELAND, OH — “Now, additional subpoenas have been issued to American Municipal Power — an Ohio-based non-profit corporation that owns and operates electric facilities including Prairie State.

Cleveland Public Power is among a number of utilities that are helping finance the bonds that built Prairie State.

Some on Cleveland City Council are concerned that the ongoing federal probe could result in increased costs to Cleveland ratepayers.”

— Ron Regan, newsnet5

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COLUMBUS, OH — “American Municipal Power has received a subpoena in a federal investigation into an Illinois power plant.

The Columbus-based company notified its member cities of the probe in a memo sent last week. AMP members – which include cities like Galion — own 23 percent of the Illinois plant, Prairie State Energy Campus, which was developed by Peabody Energy.

…’As many of you are already aware, Ohio Citizen Action Director Sandy Buchanan is reaching out to Prairie State Energy Campus participants via e-mail. She is forwarding a link to an article’ about the SEC investigation. ‘As a reminder, OCA is an anti-coal group with a long history of putting forward slanted and misleading information.’

Ohio Citizen Action has been a leading critic of Prairie State, documenting how the plant has suffered a series of budget overruns and delays, and how the cost of power from the plant will likely lead to rate increases for the communities that bought into it.

Addressing the memo, Buchanan said she doesn’t understand why AMP did not act until after she had contacted the cities.

‘It seems to me that AMP has an obligation to notify its members about something like this,’ she said.”

— Dan Gearino, Columbus Dispatch

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link to AMP memo