July 15, 2024 - Despite a Wall Street Journal article casting doubt on the future viability of a project in Pleasants County to take coal and create graphite and hydrogen, Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell remains a cheerleader for the project at the old Pleasants Power Plant.

Speaking by phone Friday, Powell said the Quantum Pleasants, owned by California-based Omnis Fuel Technologies, should be able to show within 30 days whether its proprietary “quantum reformer” technology is viable.

“I’ve been on site last week,” Powell said. “They're making great progress. We'll know within 30 days if their concept is where it needs to be. It appears it is. I've been told by the experts it is. So, we'll see.”

WV Gov. Jim Justice, speaking from the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s 86th Annual Meeting and Business Summit last August at the Greenbrier, talks with Pleasants County Commissioner Jay Powell live from the functioning Pleasants Power Plant after Omnis Fuel Technologies restarted the plant.

The company claims to be able to burn coal at high temperatures without carbon emissions through modules, allowing for graphite to be separated out and the hydrogen go to the former Pleasants Power Plant for electric generation. Graphite is used in manufacturing and making batteries.

An article published in the Wall Street Journal Thursday highlighted the Quantum Pleasants project, the $200 million investment by famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Omnis Fuel Technologies CEO Simon Hodson and his other projects in West Virginia that remain unrealized, a whistleblower lawsuit alleging Hodson and the company were misleading state and federal economic development officials about the Quantum Pleasants project and the lack of any demonstration of the quantum reformer technology.

Powell said he was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for the story, though the article includes no quotes from Powell, who has been proactive in trying to save the Pleasants Power Plant from closing.

“The Wall Street Journal spent two hours with me, took probably 20-some pictures, and left me out,” Powell said. “My theory on that is because I was probably too optimistic for them…They were looking for pessimism or negativity or something to shade the project.”

The West Virginia Economic Development Authority awarded Omnis Fuel Technologies a $40 million low-interest loan for the Quantum Pleasants project.

Speaking Thursday during his weekly administration briefing, Justice said he continues to have confidence in the project. Powell said he agreed with Justice.

“As the governor put it, time will tell,” Powell said. “I can say this: I've seen nothing but honesty and forthrightness and passion and hard work behind this project from all this and their staff. They were thankful they're still working diligently and thankful the employees are still there and thankful that we're operating. I hope for that plant to operate for a long time to come.”

Omnis Fuel Technologies purchased Pleasants Power last summer from Texas-based Energy Transition and Environmental Management, a company that planned to demolish the 1,278-megawatt coal-fired plant in June of that year. Energy Harbor, formerly FirstEnergy Solutions, was leasing the plant from ETEM and produced power up to the end of May 2023 and maintained the plant through the end of June 2023.

Until the quantum reformer project is ready, Quantum Pleasants continues to burn coal, selling the electricity generated on the wholesale market to PJM Interconnection, the regional energy transmission cooperative serving 13 states, Washington, D.C., and other utilities.

The plant directly employs 154 workers and thousands of temporary union workers during maintenance periods.

“We don't run the coal-fired power plant quite as much as we once did, but they're running it from a business perspective,” Powell said. “They're trying to only selectively run on days they can specifically assure themselves of being profitable. I get that, because ultimately, they are wanting to run from a hydrogen perspective, not solely as a coal-fired power plant.”

Pleasants Power, located south of St. Marys and Belmont in Pleasants County near the Wood County border, was commissioned in 1979 and became fully operational in 1980. Fifty-one workers died at the plant 46 years ago when part of one of the cooling towers collapsed in what was once considered the deadliest construction accident in U.S. history.

Powell said the plant means a lot to the local community.

“The community is behind them. We're excited to think we could be on the forefront of something revolutionary,” Powell said. “They're making great progress in reference to the pilot program. It's quite the game changer.”