Soon to close, Kanawha River Plant employees share memories at farewell picnic

May 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Matt Murphy Charleston Daily Mail, W.Va.

Faster than anyone else in the group, Jeanne Sheets climbed the stairs at Appalachian Power's Kanawha River Plant to reach the office she had for decades as an assistant to the plant manager.

It's not like she needed directions.

Now in her 80s, Sheets worked at the Kanawha River Plant from 1950 until retirement in 1992, and many of those years were spent in an office still home to plant management.

"Look at all these nice things," she said, remarking at the modern office furniture and a large flatscreen television in the room.

Sheets reminisced with fellow former co-worker Audra Pauley and glanced out the window at the employee reunion and farewell picnic.

It was Sheets, after all, who got the window installed decades ago after telling plant management she didn't like the opaque glass blocks that were originally part of the building.

Sheets visited her old office as part of a current and former employee reunion for the power plant, which is set to close at the end of the month once new clean air regulations take effect.

More than 100 people made the trip to Glasgow for the farewell event, some coming from as far away as Florida and Indiana. The group ranged from the youngest employee, 20-year-old Cody Schmidt, to the oldest retiree, 92-year-old Jesse Frazier, who was also in the military during World War II.

Reminiscing over hot dogs, burgers and fried chicken, workers shared their experiences while at the plant, with one common theme:

"It was like a family."

Lewis Johnson, an East Bank native now living in southern Florida, made the two-day drive to be at the reunion. He worked in the performance and maintenance departments during his 36-year career before retiring in 2001.

He said he can remember the original dual smokestacks on top of the plant and remembered when the airborne waste was diverted to a new "precipitator" in the 1970s.

"It cleaned the place up immediately," he said.

The precipitator partially cleans the emissions and fine "fly ash" particles from the coal burning process and several other long-time employees also commented about the improved cleanliness of the plant when the system was installed.

Like many other employees, Johnson said his favorite part about the job was being with his co-workers.

"We became friends and everything," he said. "It was just a family here."

Douglas Rosenberger, the plant manager from 2010 to 2012, said when he moved to the area from Indiana, "this group welcomed us in," and made the new manager and his wife feel at home.

"We made a lot of good friends here in a short amount of time," he said.

Debra Osborne, a later plant manager who now oversees AEP's Phillip Sporn Plant in Mason County, said employees at Kanawha River are "a very close-knit group." She also said the plant has had an impressive safety record -- eight years without a major injury.

"It's a pretty big deal," she said.

In Sheets' case, the Chelyan native started out in AEP's Charleston office before transferring to the now-demolished Cabin Creek power plant to be closer to her home.

She worked under Henry Skaggs, a boss she grew to respect, particularly for his good treatment of workers.

"He cared more about his people than about the company," she said.

Sheets said Skaggs was the type of hands-on manager who dressed up for work every day, but "wasn't afraid to hand his coat and tie to somebody and go in a boiler."

So when Skaggs went to the new Kanawha River Plant in 1950, Sheets went with him.

Of course, when Sheets started in Glasgow, the new plant was still being built and didn't come on-line until 1953.

"I was over here walking through mud," she said.

Sheets said she enjoyed her years at the plant "immensely" and also spoke of the "tight-knit" employees. She spoke of meal gatherings and Bingo parties employees used to have in the second-floor break room.

Some of that sense of community with retirees lives on, including a group that has meals regularly at Shoney's in Quincy.

Sheets now lives in Pratt and said she can see the exhaust tower of the Kanawha River Plant from her home.

"I can always tell when they have it running," she said.

In just a few weeks, though, the plant won't be operating anymore.

Although the Kanawha River Plant was once one of the most efficient coal power plants in the country according to Daily Mail archives, better and cleaner technology has been developed and air quality regulations have grown more strict with the intent of protecting health and combating climate change.

The act that sealed the plant's fate is the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule. The regulation is meant to reduce the amount of mercury, arsenic and other toxic substances emitted from power plants.

However, citing cost, utilities across the country are opting to shutter older, less-efficient plants instead of retrofitting those facilities.

The Kanawha River Plant employs 50 people, though more than 140 worked at the plant during its peak.

AEP officials said last year some employees will take early retirement while others will transfer elsewhere in Appalachian Power, including the John Amos Plant in Putnam County.

Besides the Kanawha River Plant, AEP is also closing the Kammer Plant in Marshall County and its Sporn Plant in Mason County.

This round of plant closures isn't the first, though.

In the 1970s, Appalachian Power's Cabin Creek Plant closed in the wake of new state air regulations issued by the West Virginia Air Pollution Control Commission.

Like today, employees at Cabin Creek in the 1970s retired or transferred -- many to the Kanawha River Plant.

Though the plant must cease operations on or by May 31, a final date is not set. AEP officials said the plant will likely run until the deadline unless any mechanical issues would cause an earlier stop date.

Contact writer Matt Murphy at 304-348-4817 or matt.murphy@dailymailwv.com. Follow him on Twitter @DMLocalGov.

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