Appalachian Power is asking regulators to approve its $340 million proposal to move tons of coal ash at its retired coal-fired power plant in Giles County to a new landfill on the property.
Coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal, is one of the largest types of industrial waste in the United States and can contain potentially harmful elements such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Appalachian Power stopped generating electricity at the Glen Lyn plant in 2015. A 2020 state law requires the company to either recycle the coal ash or deposit it in a landfill that meets certain standards, including having modern liners to prevent potential contaminants from leaching out into soil and groundwater.
Building a new landfill on the Glen Lyn property will be a “more cost-effective and community-sensitive approach” than hauling the coal ash elsewhere to dispose of it or recycle it, said Shawn Malone, director of projects for an Appalachian Power affiliate that provides management and technical services to the utility.
The different coal ash materials are broadly known as coal combustion residuals, or CCR. Appalachian Power estimates that the Glen Lyn site has nearly 6.8 million cubic yards of such materials among an existing landfill and several ponds.
“Transporting the CCR offsite would have required either costly rail logistics or extensive truck shipments on public roads, which would have increased transportation expenses, traffic, safety risks, and emissions,” Malone said in written testimony to Virginia’s State Corporation Commission.
Regulation directs cleanup timeline
Appalachian Power retired the Glen Lyn plant in 2015 to comply with EPA policies that put new regulations on coal-fired plants.
The plant had been generating electricity for nearly 100 years and was an anchor of the small Southwest Virginia town. Now it sits unused, adjacent to the New River.
The utility has filed a plant closure plan, last revised in March 2025, detailing how to deal with the plant’s coal combustion residuals.
Now, Appalachian Power is asking Virginia regulators to approve the next step in its plan: building the new landfill, called Stony Ridge, and moving the coal ash there. The new landfill would be on the West Virginia side of the power plant property.
The company has also applied to West Virginia to build and operate the landfill, and the technical review is underway.
If approved, construction on the new landfill is expected to begin later this year. Appalachian plans to start hauling ash in December 2027. State law requires the work to be completed within 15 years of when the company begins excavating.
As part of a permit renewal issued in January, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will require Appalachian Power to come up with a surface water monitoring plan to determine if potential contaminants from the coal ash at Glen Lyn have impacted the New River.
That’s in addition to ongoing groundwater monitoring work at the site.
Plan could impact customer bills
Appalachian Power, which serves about 540,000 customers in Western Virginia, said in its regulatory filing that it expects to ask permission in 2027 to begin recovering costs associated with the cleanup project.
It also plans to file for cost recovery with West Virginia regulators, so customers in both states would pay, with West Virginia picking up a little more of the bill.
The utility forecasts that if West Virginia approves cost recovery, and the $340 million price tag is spread over 11 years from 2027 through 2037, the average residential customer in Virginia would see a monthly bill increase of $1.06 for that duration.
If Virginia regulators approve Appalachian’s request but West Virginia denies it, the average Virginia residential customer would instead see a monthly bill increase of $2.28.
Utility rules out recycling
The EPA has said that reusing coal ash can have economic and environmental benefits.
Appalachian Power said in its filing that it received two proposals for recycling its coal combustion residuals, but that neither would be better than putting the material in a new landfill.
Nonetheless, the company will review new proposals every four years in case the economics change.
The 2020 state law that directed the actions at Glen Lyn also addressed the Appalachian Power-owned Clinch River power plant in Russell County, which is a few counties southwest of Giles County.
Like the Glen Lyn plant, the Clinch River plant stopped coal-fired power generation in 2015. Instead of shutting down, it switched to natural gas power generation.
The Clinch River site doesn’t have to undergo the same process as the Glen Lyn plant because its coal ash ponds were closed and capped before a cutoff date specified in the 2020 law, according to Appalachian Power spokesperson George Porter.
Glen Lyn plant has a long history
In July 1919, a single 15-megawatt power generation unit went online in Glen Lyn, supplying electricity to the coal mining industry and nearby areas.
Over the years, that 15 megawatts of power capacity grew to 335 megawatts.
That would be considered relatively small for a power plant by today’s standards, but it helped boost the Southwest Virginia town’s population from 50 to about 400 and served as the economic backbone of the community.
The plant began disposing of coal ash in the property’s existing landfill and ponds in 1958. The landfill and ponds were expanded and modified over the decades that followed.
In 2011, Appalachian Power’s parent company, American Electric Power, announced that it would retire or upgrade its coal power plants to comply with new EPA rules intended to reduce emissions.
The Glen Lyn plant was among five on the list to be fully retired. Others, such as the Clinch River plant, were to be partially retired but continue some power generation.
In 2015, the EPA enacted new rules nationwide for the disposal of coal ash, saying the tighter regulations would help protect the environment and public health. Appalachian Power’s plan is designed to comply with both EPA and state rules.
By December 2024, when the plant had been retired for about a decade, the town of Glen Lyn’s population was down to 95. It took the votes of just a little more than two dozen residents to sign off on eliminating Glen Lyn’s status as a town, and a bill in this year’s General Assembly is set to finish the job.
In a 2024 interview, Giles County Administrator Chris McKlarney said the power plant building has potential for reuse thanks to its location, sturdy masonry, high ceilings and tens of thousands of square feet of space.
But first, the coal ash must be dealt with.
“We look forward to completing our regulatory requirements for this site and continuing to work with the local community to explore potential opportunities for redevelopment,” Porter said.