SALEM Inviability prompts Cogentrix to pull out

An inkling that the project was in peril came last summer.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Citing unfavorable market conditions, a North Carolina company has officially scrapped its plans to build a $600 million power plant in Columbiana County.
Cogentrix Energy Inc. of Charlotte notified the Ohio Power Siting Board recently of its intent to ditch its plans.
In its May 30 notice to the board, the company said it had reviewed the electric power market and determined the "project is no longer economically viable."
Cogentrix "has determined not to proceed with construction of this project," the notice adds.
A company spokesman was unavailable today to comment.
Disappointment
County Commissioner Gary Williams expressed disappointment today about the news.
"I would have liked to have seen it come here," Williams said. "It would have provided for a lot of economic development."
Cogentrix had planned to build a 1,100 megawatt natural gas-fired, electric power-generating plant at a rural 150-acre site off St. Jacob-Logtown Road in Center Township.
The state power siting board had approved the spot in May 2002, despite opposition from some who expressed fears about plant emissions and its impact on the rural community.
Company officials had said they picked the spot because it has easy access to electric transmission lines and four high-pressure gas pipelines.
The plant would have used about 9 million gallons of water daily piped in from the Ohio River. The water would have been used to cool its electric generation turbines.
Jobs
About 300 construction jobs would have been provided during the nearly two years it would have taken to build the facility. At one time, Cogentrix had hoped to begin construction in mid-2004.
The plant would have employed about 30 full-time workers.
Indications that plans for the undertaking were in jeopardy came last summer when a Cogentrix spokesman said the effort was being put on hold indefinitely.
A weak power market was cited at that time as a concern for the company but it held out hope that the project would eventually be resurrected.
Company spokesman Jef Freeman said in August 2002 that Cogentrix will "keep the project on a posture, where, if the market does rebound, we can move forward."
Eliminating that intent was the recent notice to the state officially scuttling the project.