Unwelcome news takes an even heavier toll when we learn it will cost hundreds of jobs in our region and put more pressure on our nation’s energy grid. That was the case last week when we learned Energy Harbor, owner of the W.H. Sammis Power Plant in Stratton and Willow Island in Pleasants County, West Virginia, said it will close Sammis next summer and shutter two units at Willow Island, unless both can be sold. The move would retire 3,074 megawatts of coal-generated electricity.

That kind of energy is enough to power about 1.5 million homes per year. It nearly matches the 3,100 megawatts of electricity generated by all the wind farms operational in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Energy Harbor’s goal is to be carbon-free in its energy generation. Outside of Sammis and Willow Island, the company operates four nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, is concerned about the pressure this will place on the nation’s energy grid. He said a buyer needs to step forward soon, as the plants continue to operate within federal emissions guidelines and provide for hundreds of families.

Johnson is right. There is an opportunity here for a buyer to do the right thing, both for our region’s economy and energy security for our nation as a whole.