Beth Burger, The Columbus Dispatch
Published
11:29 am UTC Jan. 18, 2021
Not many people call Cheshire, Ohio, home now. Nearly 20 years ago, bulldozers sent by a utility company razed most of its homes in the small Appalachian village along the Ohio River.
One of the nation's largest coal-fired power plants still looms over the village's handful of remaining businesses and its post office. The Gen. James M. Gavin Power Plant, named for a decorated World War II paratrooper, has the capacity to generate 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 780,000 homes.
The plant is Ohio’s largest polluter, emitting about 13 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year, with a history of residents living nearby reporting health problems such as asthma.