Owner/Client
FirstEnergy
Canestrale Environmental Control Corporation
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Community & Economic Development
Location
Courtney, Washington County, PA
CEC Services
- Health & Safety Planning
- Environmental Assessments
- Local & Regional Site Infrastructure
- Identification & Condition Assessments
- Demolition & Abatement Plans & Cost Estimating
- Beneficial Reuse Evaluations
- Energy Development Options
- Existing and Future Permitting Reviews
- Redevelopment Analysis and Grading/Pad-ready Concept Plans
- Market Analysis and Proforma
- Highest & Best Use & Economic Impact Analyses
- Recommended Actions & Schedule
Owner Objective
The genesis of this project is a U.S. federal government program known as the “Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative,” which is supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). The goal of POWER is to “align and leverage complimentary federal economic and workforce development resources, targeting federal assistance through competitively awarded grants to partnerships anchored in communities impacted by changes in the coal economy.”
Supported by the POWER program, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) was awarded a $1.2 million grant to implement a plan that encourages the redevelopment/reuse of idled coal-fired power plants located throughout the commonwealth. The “FirstEnergy Mitchell Power Station and Adjacent Canestrale Properties” project in Washington County was selected to be the first DCED project completed under the program.
This project encompassed more than 800 acres and had numerous challenges, including several hundred acres of coal refuse disposal (with a coal slurry impoundment, acid mine drainage, and more than 250 feet of topographic relief); potential new access to a limited-access toll highway; river access with barge mooring capacity; and existing electric transmission grid infrastructure.
CEC Approach
CEC led a diverse consulting team in the preparation of a Decommissioning & Redevelopment “Playbook” and associated appendix documents. In collaboration with DCED and property owners FirstEnergy and Canestrale, the team conducted a comprehensive process of redevelopment planning, which included an evaluation of the site’s environmental liabilities, infrastructure, physiography, regulatory status, energy redevelopment potential, and a highest-and-best-use evaluation for economic repositioning. The Playbook presented alternative site redevelopment scenarios based on a market assessment/study, and included projected site demolition, abatement and development costs, and a site development proforma.
