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January 26, 2012
FirstEnergy Corp. announced today it will close six older coal-fired power plants located in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland by Sept. 1 to comply with Environmental Protection Agency mercury and toxic air standards.
The plants include the Armstrong Power Station near Kittanning.
The others include four in Ohio. They are the Bay Shore Plant, Units 2-4, in Oregon; Eastlake Plant, Eastlake; Ashtabula Plant, Ashtabula; and the Lake Shore Plant, in Cleveland.
The sixth is the R. Paul Smith Power Station in Williamsport, Md.
The plants can generate 2,689 megawatts of power, but they recently served mostly to provide peaking or intermediate power needs and on average provided about 10 percent of the electricity produced by the company in the past three years, FirstEnergy said. One megawatt can power about 800 homes.
A total of 529 employees will be affected by the closings, but some could be considered for jobs at other FirstEnergy plants, the company said. Existing severance benefits will apply to eligible workers, it said.
Akron, Ohio-based First Energy operates West Penn Power and Penn Power subsidiaries in Pennsylvania.