The Homer City Generating Station towers over fields of corn in Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Photo by Audrey Carleton/Capital and Main)
When the owners of the Homer City Generating Station announced that it would finally be shuttering by July of 2023 due to competition from cheap natural gas and the costs of adhering to environmental regulations , it signaled a long-anticipated shift in Pennsylvania’s energy mix. The coal-fired power plant was the last in the state — and the largest — to make decommissioning plans, so the announcement gave some in the fossil-fuel heavy Keystone State a sense of relief, both in terms of environmental impact and health effects.
“This will prevent premature deaths, illness & slash CO2 emissions,” former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger tweeted .
But many across the political spectrum feared what would happen next to the small community of Homer City, in southwestern Pennsylvania, home to just over 1,500 people. Years of instability meant its shuttering could have been better prepared for . The plant owners gave just 90 days’ notice of its closure as more than 120 workers prepared to pack their bags to face an uncertain future. “Instead of recognizing the market shift and preparing for the transition to clean, renewable generation,” Leigh Martinez, communications director at nonprofit advocacy group PennFuture, wrote in a statement , “fossil fuel-friendly legislators have spent years in denial.” Homer City residents and former plant employees say the community has been left in dire straits as a result.