Conversations are in the works to remove a dam on the Cheat River in Albright. At the helm of these talks is the non-profit watershed group, Friends of the Cheat.
“There’s always been this sentiment of the Cheat being this long connected ecosystem,” Friends of the Cheat Executive Director Amanda Pitzer said. A 2005 report prepared by Downstream Strategies, LLC stated, “the Cheat River drains the largest uncontrolled watershed in the eastern United States.”
The dam is connected to the defunct Albright Power Station and runs under the Powerplant Road Bridge. According to prospective plans, the road would not be removed along with the dam.
The dam is considered a low head dam. Low head dams span the entire river or stream and spill over the entire dam crest length. This type of dam is dangerous for boaters because the pooling of water before the dam, combined with the drop from the dam, creates a hydraulic that can trap anything that floats.
“This is a big project, we’re just trying to get folks excited about it, and make sure it’s what people want,” Pitzer said. If the dam is removed, some of Friends of the Cheat’s long-term ideas for the spot include a fishing pier and a play wave for paddlers.
West Virginia Department of Natural Resources District One Fisheries Biologist Dave Wellman explained the department’s objectives on the Cheat, “Our main priorities are providing access to fish on the Cheat as well as monitoring and maintaining fish populations.”
After efforts to clean up mine drainage, fish populations rose substantially in the 1990s, with small mouth bass being the highlighted sport fish on the Cheat River. “There are 40 species of fish, and it is a good destination for several different types of anglers,” Wellman said. “I don’t think it has even reached its potential yet.”
In 2014 the Conservation Fund and the Nature Conservancy purchased 3,836 acres of the Cheat River Canyon for preservation. “As the water quality of the river continued to improve, the river restoration became an reality,” Pitzer said.
“The Nature Conservancy has long term investments in protecting the Cheat River, as it is very important,” Conservation Programs Director Mike Powell said. “More recently, we partnered with West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, the Conservation Fund, and United States Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the highly important Cheat Canyon Area. This river is important for nature, but also for the importance these landscapes hold for tourism and outdoor recreation,” Powell said.
“This isn’t just a pollution cleanup project, it’s an economic project,” Pitzer said. As for specifics on moving forward on the dam removal, Pitzer wants to get all the local and state players on the same page.
Built in 1952, the Albright Power Station preceded the creation of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that monitors such plants. A 2011 lawsuit filed by West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and the Sierra Club against MonPower over the high levels of coal waste seeping into the river resulted in a settlement.
The plant was decommissioned in 2012 in order to comply with federal air emissions standards. Days before the plant was retired, a coal ash silo collapsed.
Carl Ervin worked at the Albright Power Station for 36 years. While he was not surprised to see the plant shut down, he recognized the economic impact it had on the community.
He sees a balance between environmental protection and economic opportunity. “Personally I have always been an advocate of taking care of the environment, don’t do things that hurt the environment, but I also personally feel the environmental protections on some things might overstep their boundaries, especially with their regulations on farmland,” he said.
In 2013, First Energy and the West Virginia National Guard entered a land use agreement giving the National Guard full access and sole use of the facility. The National Guard continues to use the facility.
