This week's announcement that American Municipal Power of Ohio has pulled the plug on its multibillion-dollar coal-fired power plant in Letart Falls caught Meigs County Economic Development Director Perry Varnadoe by surprise.

"This was a very unexpected turn of events," Varnadoe said. "We were extremely disappointed - this would have been a great economic engine for all of southeastern Ohio."

In a statement issued Wednesday, officials with the Columbus-based, nonprofit AMP Ohio company said the much-touted Meigs plant project had been scrapped after learning construction costs had jumped from $3.3 billion to $4 billion.

"We're owned by our members and controlled by our members, and the project was online until this last 'refresh' of cost numbers by the contractor early this month," Kent Carson, spokesman for AMP Ohio, said on Friday.

"Once we realized the cost of the coal project made no sense, our board of trustees voted to terminate the project," he said. "The board also voted to look into converting the plans to build a natural gas-fired facility."

But Carson added that no firm decision has been made on the natural gas option at this time.

He also said plans to shut down AMP Ohio's Gorsuch plant near Marietta will likely be re-evaluated due to the Meigs plant decision.

"Our board had determined that when the (Meigs) plant went online, the Gorsuch plant would be taken off line," Carson said. "All that has changed with this week's decision. We'll have to wait and see; we're taking a new look at everything now."

Varnadoe noted that the original plans for the coal-fired facility included a four-year construction period.

"That would have included about 1,600 construction workers and a payroll of $220 million," he said, adding that the plant would have opened with 160 direct employees and an annual payroll of $10 million.

"But now they've stopped everything," Varnadoe said.

In Marietta, Bill Hutchinson, business manager for the Parkersburg-Marietta Building Trades, said the news is devastating.

"For us this is terribly disappointing," he said. "It would have meant a lot of jobs to boost our local economy."

Hutchinson said a couple of contractors were already doing some preliminary work at the Meigs site.

"They were building roadways into the site and had paved a couple of concrete pads for the smokestacks," he said. "Now the outfits there will take their equipment out. Everything's at a standstill."

Hutchinson added that local building trades members have been traveling all over the country to find work, and many were looking forward to having employment close to home at the Meigs plant.

"Some contractors were looking at expanding their apprenticeship programs to help build this plant, too," he said, noting that those programs probably won't be continued after this week's announcement.

Although AMP Ohio hasn't confirmed that a natural gas-fired plant will replace the planned Meigs facility, state Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, hopes the company will pursue that project.

"Despite the unexpected change of plans, I am encouraged by AMP Ohio's commitment to Meigs County and southeast Ohio," Phillips said in a statement issued earlier this week.

"We must keep seeking ways to ensure that southeastern Ohio is a part of the ongoing development of 21st-century industries. I hope that AMP Ohio will continue to be a partner in that," she said.

State Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, said this week's announcement is not good for coal companies, either.

"This doesn't bode well for the future of the coal industry," he said. "This was virtually the only project that was able to go through all of the hoops and get the necessary permits to build.

"And if that process didn't take four or five years to allow a company to build, this project would have been well under construction by now," Stewart said. "I really hope this is a wake-up call for the folks in Washington, D.C., that this process needs to be streamlined as most likely it will be the same story for any other coal-fired plant facilities."

Stewart said he would continue to support the project if it changed to a natural gas plant.

"On the positive side, AMP Ohio is going to continue to proceed with five hydroelectric plants projects that are planned, but all five of those will generate only about 37 percent of the power that the single Meigs plant would generate," Stewart added.

U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, said in a statement that he was disappointed with the news.

"I have been looking forward to the jobs and economic development this project would bring to Meigs County and the surrounding area," he said. "I hope that turning this project into a natural gas combined cycle facility can become an reality. I will work with both American Municipal Power and Meigs County officials in any way necessary to make sure we can switch the direction of the project."