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Published by Point Pleasant Register
By Sarah Hawley – [email protected]

NEW HAVEN — Residents in the bend area of Mason and Meigs Counties likely heard two loud booms on Saturday morning as a planned demolition activity took place at the former Philip Sporn Power Plant in New Haven, West Virginia.

“On Saturday morning, Frontier Industrial Corp. brought down Precipitator #5 at the former Philip Sporn Power Plant. This was a planned activity and allowed the structure to be brought down in a controlled, safe manner,” stated Philip J. Pantano, President of Pantano & Associates LLC, in an email to Ohio Valley Publishing.

He added that cleanup of the scrap material from the work will take approximately six weeks. The demolition of the remainder of the former power generating plant will take approximately 18 more months.

As for the future of the property, Pantano stated, “The property owner, New Haven Industrial Park, LLC, has been working closely with officials from Mason County and the West Virginia Development Office to find prospective operators for the property after the demolition and site work is completed. These prospects include companies operating in a variety of industries and are both domestic and international companies.”

According to a 2015 article on the American Electric Power website, Philip Sporn Plant was one of three coal-fired power plants which were closed by Appalachian Power Company in West Virginia in 2015.

“Sporn Plant was comprised of five units. Unit 1 began operation in 1949 with commercial operation in 1950. Unit 2 also began operation in 1950. The third unit began service in 1951 and the fourth unit came on line one year later. Unit 5 began operating in 1960. Each of the first four units generated 150,000 kilowatts of electricity, while Unit 5 generated 450,000 kilowatts,” according to the article.