The Alexandria power plant is closing, maybe as soon as fall 2012

[PotomacCyclist]

Cyclists on the Mt. Vernon Trail pass by it every day, along the section north of Old Town Alexandria. But they may not know the purpose of the structure. It’s a coal-burning power plant that the City of Alexandria has been trying to shut down for quite a while. The owners, GenOn, announced the agreement with the city to close the plant down. The scheduled date for the closing is October 1, 2012. But state and federal regulations could delay the closing.

When riding southbound on the MVT and taking the riverside trail at the fork in the trail north of Old Town, the plant can be seen through the trees. The adjacent open-air coal storage area is hidden behind a long wooden fence. The fence is decorated with scenes of Virginia history (I think), painted in a calming, non-threatening style. It tricks people into thinking that there are magical unicorns and walking cornucopias behind the fence. The reality is somewhat more disturbing and noxious.

Coal storage along the Mt. Vernon Trail

GenOn has been fined for emissions and monitoring failures at the plant as recently as this spring. Earlier this month, GenOn said that they would not close the plant. This summer, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg made a personal donation of $50 million to the Sierra Club’s campaign to close down coal-fueled power plants. The announcement was made while he was on the deck of a boat docked in the Potomac River, with the Alexandria power plant serving as a backdrop for the press event.

An outside group has been drawing up plans for the redevelopment of the site, even before today’s announcement (Potomac River Green). [Note that Potomac River Green is financed by a natural gas group that wants to include a natural gas refueling station on the site, along with residential, commercial and retail buildings.] No word on what will replace the plant. It could be a combination of a park, residential buildings and commercial/retail. Or not. The development could lead to an improvement of the Mt. Vernon Trail running through that area. The trail could be smoothed out to remove the tight turns required to navigate that section.

No work on the plant or the trail would even start until fall 2012, maybe later than that. It’ll be interesting to see what replaces that plant.

Topic

[CCrew]

Now all Alexandria needs to do is get the Washington Post to dump their properties.

[PotomacCyclist]

Alexandria City staff confirmed this week that the GenOn plant will indeed close by the deadline of October 1.

[Terpfan]

Yah, they’ve been saying 10/1/12 for a little while now, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I have noticed a decrease in coal loads coming into the plant so I suspect they’re fairly serious. Basically GenOn got the money they had putting into an escrow account with Alexandria back, I think it was 20 or 30 mil. They also get 5 years of tax relief in form of only tax on land, not on building/improvements. What happens past that is a good question. Local rumors have been about mixed-use.

I would hope they keep the trail on both sides of the plant like it is now save maybe adding a little shot up Abingdon there. What’s interesting is the city moving forward with both waterfront plans in downtown Oldtown and then talking about similar stuff at the plant. I figured they would have done the compromise of saying we’ll move that commercial to power plant thereby avoiding the conflict.

As much as some folks complained about the plant, they really didn’t contribute to traffic and in fact make that little stretch of Abingdon really quiet. I suspect it will soon be the opposite. Blah.

[PotomacCyclist]

The plant closure went ahead as planned:

http://alexandriava.gov/GenOn

As of today, the plant is closed, permanently.

[KLizotte]

A big question is whether GenCo will be required to clean up the toxic mess the plant leaves behind.

[Terpfan]

There was a lot of train activity in the last month it seemed. Now I’m thinking it was reverse shipping of the coal back out.

[Dirt]

Perhaps before they implode the place they could have a mountain bike version of the Diamond Derby on site… the Lump of Coal Derby.

I’m shutting up now.

Love,

Dirt.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Should we start a pool on how long it takes for something to be done with the property? I’m guessing 7-8 years.

[Terpfan]

@ShawnoftheDread 32617 wrote:

Should we start a pool on how long it takes for something to be done with the property? I’m guessing 7-8 years.

A touch optimistic, I would go with 9-10 since I think they will be still litigating the other waterfront development issue for the next 3-5 years in courts, court of public opinion and generally everywhere.

However, I do think they should at least pave over the railroad track portion to make the transition to the path a little smoother. Clearly they don’t need it anymore.

[creadinger]

@Terpfan 32622 wrote:

A touch optimistic, I would go with 9-10 since I think they will be still litigating the other waterfront development issue for the next 3-5 years in courts, court of public opinion and generally everywhere. However, I do think they should at least pave over the railroad track portion to make the transition to the path a little smoother. Clearly they don’t need it anymore.

It would be sweet if the MVT could just take over the current railroad track and make it double wide. Though what about that warehouse at the corner of Pendleton and Union Streets? There are usually box cars parked there. Does that place still use railcars?

[Terpfan]

@creadinger 32624 wrote:

It would be sweet if the MVT could just take over the current railroad track and make it double wide. Though what about that warehouse at the corner of Pendleton and Union Streets? There are usually box cars parked there. Does that place still use railcars?

That’s a really good question. I have infrequently seen a rail car in there, but I’ve never seen the train go down there. I don’t know. Although I also have no idea what that place even is. It usually seems vacant although I tend to think it’s highly valuable property.

[MM2]

Agreed – it would be great if the Mount Vernon Trail could take over the tracks, as they head toward Washington Street and around the plant. It would make for a better alternate route, off the river, than the one that is currently marked.

Be nice if all the tracks could go from rail to trail.

[PotomacCyclist]

A November 7, 2012 update on the deactivation of the Potomac River Generating Station:

http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/tes/oeq/info/GenOn_PRGS_Phase%20I_Deactivation_Presentation.pdf

It will be a while before the process is complete and the land can be used for other purposes. No specific timetable is available at this time.

[Author]

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