×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Former R.E. Burger Plant Smokestack Demolition Set Today

Local venues hope to capitalize on tower coming down

Photo by Casey Junkins VanDyne’s Family Restaurant in Dilles Bottom will host a watch party for the demolition of the 854-foot-tall smokestack at the former R.E. Burger plant in Dilles Bottom, scheduled for approximately 8:30 a.m. today.

DILLES BOTTOM — Eggs, bacon, toast, coffee and a show await those headed to a watch party at VanDyne’s Family Restaurant for the demolition of the former R.E. Burger plant’s smokestack around 8:30 a.m. today.

Grand Vue Park in Moundsville will also host a watch party for the event that will take place just across the Ohio River. Many in the Upper Ohio Valley are excited to watch the event, with hopes it will facilitate development of a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker planned for the site.

“Everyone’s been calling to make sure we’re going to be open. We’ll be here and ready for the show,” said Heather Winters, a server at VanDyne’s.

“I am very excited to see it. I think it will be interesting to see how it goes,” she added.

Ron McDowell, senior geology researcher for the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, said the demolition will generate a shockwave similar to a sonic boom, while creating ground tremors as far as five miles from the collapse of the colossal structure.

“We’ll probably feel it, but I doubt it will be anything we can’t handle,” Winters said.

At least one retired coal miner, however, looks at the demolition as a sign that coal-fired electricity generation is under attack.

“I do not think it should happen,” Powhatan Point resident Charles Armann said of the closure and subsequent demolition of the Burger facility. “Everywhere you look, power plants are closing, mines are closing. It is bad now, and it seems to be getting worse.”

Previously operated by the former Ohio Edison Co., the coal-fired Burger plant became part of the FirstEnergy Corp. generation fleet via a corporate merger in 1997. In 2009, FirstEnergy officials said they planned to convert the Burger plant into a facility that would burn biomass agricultural waste for electricity, but the company eventually scrapped the plan.

Last year, developers with Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical confirmed they hoped to build the giant ethane cracker on the Burger site and some additional acreage to the southwest owned by Ohio-West Virginia Excavating.

“I would like to see the ethane cracker come. We need something like that to get people back to work in this area,” Armann said.

Since officials with Royal Dutch Shell confirmed plans to build their giant petrochemical plant near Monaca, Pa., anticipation for the PTT project has continued building.

“Ever since we heard about the one in Pennsylvania, people have gotten even more excited,” Winters said.

For precautionary purposes, roads on both sides of the Ohio River will be closed temporarily this morning for safety purposes. Officials will shut down W.Va. 2 around 8 a.m. for the planned 8:30 a.m. blast. The closure will affect W.Va. 2 from 12th Street south to the traffic signal at the Williams Energy plant.

The Moundsville Bridge will also be closed, as well as Roberts Ridge Road. How long these closures will remain in place depends on how much dust results from the explosion and collapse.

Similar traffic restrictions will take place on Ohio 7 in the Dilles Bottom area around 8 a.m. today.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today