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A Coal Company CEO wants to Buy First Energy Solutions' Coal-Fired Power Plants

Murray Energy is considering coal-fired plants from First Energy Solutions
FIRSTENERGY
Murray Energy is considering coal-fired plants from First Energy Solutions

An energy industry analyst says Robert Murray's idea may not be doable.

W.H. Sammis Power Plant
Credit First Energy Solutions website
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First Energy Solutions website
W.H. Sammis Power Plant

The head of one of the nation’s biggest coal companies says he can keep First Energy Solutions' coal-fired power plants from shutting down.

Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray tells Bloomberg news that if government subsidies are granted he can get financing to buy the coal plants targeted for closing.  And with his company providing the coal, he says he can keep them running. 

Sandy Buchanan is executive director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Credit Ohio Citizens Action
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OHIO CITIZENS ACTION
Sandy Buchanan is executive director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Sandy Buchanan, who heads the non-profit Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis in Cleveland says current research suggests otherwise. “Given the market conditions, and given that the only presumable fix is a short-term political fix under one administration…you know…lenders don’t look a couple of years, they look at the long term markets.  And all the long-term market trends are completely in the opposite direction.”

First Energy Solutions has filed for bankruptcy and said it will get out of the competitive energy production business and close its nuclear and coal-fired plants. 

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Tim Rudell
Tim Rudell has worked in broadcasting and news since his student days at Kent State in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when he earned extra money as a stringer for UPI). He began full time in radio news in 1972 in his home town of Canton, OH.