Sammis Plant

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Sammis Plant is a retired power station in Stratton, Jefferson, Ohio, United States. It is also known as WH Sammis power station.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Sammis Plant	Stratton, Jefferson, Ohio, United States	40.529167, -80.632083 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7: 40.529167, -80.632083

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	retired	coal - bituminous	190.4	subcritical	1959	2020
Unit 2	retired	coal - bituminous	190.4	subcritical	1960	2020
Unit 3	retired	coal - bituminous	190.4	subcritical	1961	2020
Unit 4	retired	coal - bituminous	190.4	subcritical	1962	2020
Unit 5	retired	coal - bituminous	334	subcritical	1967	2023
Unit 6	retired	coal - bituminous	680	supercritical	1969	2023
Unit 7	retired	coal - bituminous	680	supercritical	1971	2023

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner
Unit 1	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 2	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 3	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 4	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 5	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 6	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]
Unit 7	Energy Harbor Generation LLC [100.0%]

Unit Retirements

Units 1-4, 190 MW each and commissioned between 1959 and 1962, are planned for retirement by May 2020.

Units 5-7, commissioned 1967 to 1971 and totaling 1694 MW gross capacity, are planned for retirement by June 1, 2022. However, in July 2019 is was reported that First Energy rescinded the June 2022 deactivation notice for units 5-7.

Units 1-4 were retired in June 2020.

In October 2021, Energy Harbor sent a letter to the Ohio EPA indicating plans to close the remaining units by the end of 2028. Subsequently in March 2022, the company announced that they will be closing or selling all remaining coal units by 2023 in an effort to transition to 100% carbon free energy.

Background

In 2005, FirstEnergy agreed to a US$1.5 billion overhaul of the plant that included adding an 850-foot smokestack. After the retrofit is completed, gypsum waste created by scrubbers will travel by closed conveyor belt to a landfill 2.4 miles from the plant, where the company will store as much as 1.6 million tons of sludge each year.

The pollution controls were completed in 2010 at a cost of US$1.8 billion.

In 2012, FirstEnergy said it would reduce operations at the plant because the electricity is not needed. Minimal operations would begin Sept. 16 and the cutbacks would continue indefinitely "until the stagnant economy improves."

In September 2015 Vox reported that FirstEnergy was seeking a 15-year guaranteed agreement from the state to purchase all power that the plant produces, regardless of whether it is the lowest cost on the market. As stated in Vox, "ratepayers of three of [FirstEnergy's] distribution utilities — Illuminating Co., Ohio Edison, and Toledo Edison — would be forced to buy, through a power purchase agreement (PPA), all the power that the [Sammis plant] produces over the next 15 years, along with the output of two other very old coal plants in which FirstEnergy has a partial stake."

At the time of retirement, the power station was owned and operated by Energy Harbor, a former subsidiary of FirstEnergy.

Emissions Data

• 2006 CO₂ Emissions: 15,761,762 tons
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions: 86,392 tons
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions per MWh:
• 2006 NO_x Emissions: 20,592 tons
• 2005 Mercury Emissions: 397 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Sammis Plant

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Sammis Plant

Type of Impact	Annual Incidence	Valuation
Deaths	160	$1,200,000,000
Heart attacks	270	$29,000,000
Asthma attacks	2,500	$130,000
Hospital admissions	120	$2,900,000
Chronic bronchitis	96	$43,000,000
Asthma ER visits	120	$46,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Ohio HB 6 and coal subsidies

In May 2019 the Ohio legislature passed House Bill 6 (HB6) which beginning in January 2020 levied a fee of roughly 58 cents per bill for residential customers and 85 cents per 1,000 kilowatt-hour for commercial and industrial customers. Revenues from these fees are being used to subsidize two coal-fired plants, Kyger Creek Station in Ohio and Clifty Creek Station in Indiana. Shortly after the passage of HB6 FirstEnergy also announced that it would delay the planned retirement of the W.H. Sammis plant.

In July 2020 Ohio Speaker Larry Householder (R) and four associates were arrested and charged with coordinating a $60 million bribery scheme with FirstEnergy, in return for which Householder included a bailout for two FirstEnergy nuclear power plants as part of HB 6. In August 2020 the Ohio legislature began considering several bills that would partially or completely repeal HB6.

In June 2023, it was reported that fifty members of the Ohio state legislature had co-sponsored a bill to repeal HB6. The new bill would end the coal plant subsidy and require Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) to repay the estimated US$400 million in subsidies paid to date. Later in the month, Ohio Republican leadership reportedly voted to block the new bipartisan bill repealing subsidies for the coal plants.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.