A Potomac power plant loathed by environmentalists will close its doors in the next year, if all goes according to plan.
The City of Alexandria announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to close the Potomac River Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, with its owner Genon.
The energy company and city signed an agreement that would close the plant by Oct. 1, 2012, in exchange for a tax break for the plant. The company will also not have to install the multi-million dollar pollution controls the city had told it to put in place over the next year, and the $32 million to be used for those controls will go to the company.
City officials said the plant may have to operate past the Oct. 1 deadline if federal, state and electrical grid approvals are not granted in time. If the plant operates past Jan. 1, 2014, the city will receive $750,000 from the plant.
Environmental groups have often complained that the plant emits pollutants dangerous to the health of D.C. area residents. Most recently the Sierra Club launched a campaign to warn residents about coal-fired plants, linking the Potomac plant with asthma in D.C. children.
City officials praised the agreement.
“This is great news,” Alexandria mayor Bill Euille said. “We have been pushing this for many, many years.”
