Salem Harbor Power Station To Close In 2014
SALEM (CBS) - Years of legal battles, protests and one recent fatal accident has led the owner of the Salem Harbor Power Station to announce it will close down the facility permanently.
Dominion of Virginia says that with the approval of ISO New England, the 60-year-old coal and oil-fired plant will close for good in June of 2014.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Anthony Silva reports
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The company says the cost would be "exorbitant" to install clean air controls on the plant. A staff attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, Shanna Cleveland, says this plant was losing the fight to meet regulations.
State Representative Lori Ehrlich has been fighting the plant for years. She says this has been "a long time coming for thousands of North Shore residents who have spent their lives downwind from this filthy, old plant."
But the Dominion facility has also been the number one taxpayer for Salem, generating almost $5 million in annual tax revenue for the city. Mayor Kim Driscoll says the plant has been a good corporate citizen for the city and that tax revenue will be sorely missed.
The Salem Power Plant occupies 65 acres on Salem Harbor. A study will be released soon detailing ways to redevelop the property.
