Kammer Plant helped usher in major changes to AEP

“Kammer Plant and its employees have been proud stewards of our community for more than 50 years,” said Dan Moyer, plant manager. “We appreciate the community and the support they have given us over this length of time.”

Moyer added that Kammer Plant employees have taken great pride in providing electricity while protecting air and water quality, recycling materials and maintaining an exemplary record of public and work safety.

Kammer’s shared grounds with Mitchell Plant include about 1,125 acres of meadows, old-field successional lands, wetlands and riparian forest formerly used for coal mining and industrial purposes that have been enhanced by habitat management activities laid out in a comprehensive wildlife stewardship plan.

The effort has included installation of wood duck, bluebird and bat nesting boxes, osprey nesting platforms and a 2.5-acre wildflower/butterfly garden, with employees working alongside government agencies, community and business groups. The Kammer-Mitchell site has been certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council.

“There have been ospreys nesting on our barge unloader structures at Kammer and Mitchell for years now,” said Al Smith, energy production superintendent. “Even with the movement and noise from the operating of the barge unloaders, they continue to utilize the same nest areas. We also have red fox, geese, ducks, and deer that frequent the property.

“Kammer and Mitchell employees have always been dedicated to the environmental concerns of the surrounding wildlife and keeping the habitat areas intact,” Smith said.

Open house held for employees, retirees at Kammer Plant

Top to bottom: Russell Feist, Charlie Nolte, Neil Patterson and John Ray.

Kammer Plant held an open house and luncheon for current and former employees at the plant’s learning center April 24. More than 150 attendees enjoyed reminiscing with good friends, good food, photographs of employees and scenes at the plant through the years, and plant tours. (See photos of the open house in the slideshow at the top of the article.)

Several retirees who attended the event started at Kammer at the very beginning, including:

• Russell Feist worked at Tidd Plant for 10 years before coming to Kammer in March 1958 as master maintenance man. “There was lots of construction going on then,” he said. “I enjoyed the people and enjoyed the work.” He retired in 1990 as maintenance supervisor with 42 years of service.
• Charlie Nolte, payroll supervisor, arrived at Kammer in March 1957 and retired in 1988, with 40 years of service to AEP. Nolte worked at Windsor Plant for 10 years before coming to Kammer. Ann Shook and Jackie Sebulsky, retired employees who worked with Nolte in the accounting department, also attended the open house. “This plant was a good place to work. There are lots of good people here,” he said.
• Neil Patterson started in 1950 at Windsor Plant as a laborer and came to Kammer in November 1957 as auxiliary equipment operator, helping start up the first unit in 1958. He retired in 1994 as  shift engineer. “When all is said and done, you remember the people you worked with, and the camaraderie,” he said. He noted that both his own father and the father of fellow retiree Lou Melchiori (who also attended the open house) worked at Windsor Plant.
• John Ray, shift engineer, had worked previously at Kyger Creek Plant and Tidd Plant. He arrived at Kammer in 1958 in operations and helped start up the first unit. As a startup engineer, he also worked at Muskingum River Plant and Cardinal Plant Unit 3. He retired with approximately 34 years of service with AEP and OVEC.

Also attending were former plant managers Greg Massey and Wayne Irons, as well as Chuck George, who started his AEP career at Kammer and is now plant manager at Cardinal Plant. Plant managers through the years at Kammer have been Houston E. Crouse, 1958-1966; Cecil Shay, 1966-1978; Nile Richmond, 1978-1981; P.E. “Gene” Bischof, 1981-1995; Ralph Life, 1995-1999; Greg Massey, 1999-2001; Wayne Irons, 2001-2010, and Dan Moyer, 2010-2015.

Senior Generation management attended to recognize employees and retirees, including McCullough; [Dan Lee], senior vice president – Fossil & Hydro Generation; [Toby Thomas], vice president – Competitive Generation; and [Jeffery LaFleur], vice president – Generating Assets, APCO/Ky.

This undated photo from company archives shows an early view of Kammer Plant.

Kammer Plant’s origins are unique in AEP System

Kammer Plant’s origins are unlike any other generating plant in the AEP System.

In 1956, American Gas & Electric executed agreements to build and operate electric power facilities for a new aluminum reduction plant and rolling mill operation in Clarington, Ohio, and to supply electric power for a new aluminum reduction plant in Ravenswood, W.Va.

These agreements were major watershed events for AG&E, paving the way for a $700 million plan to increase the System generating capacity to nearly 7,000 MW by 1960. AG&E broke ground for Kammer Plant in 1956.

In 1958, the company was building five major power plants simultaneously – Kammer and Sporn in West Virginia; Muskingum River in Ohio; Clinch River in Virginia; and Breed in Indiana. That same year, the company placed into commercial operation five generating units with a combined capacity of 1.1 million kilowatts, a company record at the time.

Herbert A. Kammer, namesake of Kammer Plant.

If 1958 was a huge year for the company, the month of May was especially significant:

• On May 12, American Gas & Electric Co. officially changed its name to American Electric Power.
• On May 19, Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation and Revere Copper & Brass Inc. formed the Olin Revere Metals Corp., or Ormet, in Hannibal, Ohio. Ormet was a 150,000 ton aluminum reduction and fabrication complex, second largest in the U.S. at the time, starting production in January 1959.
• On May 24, Kammer’s first unit was paralleled to the grid. Unit 2 followed October 9, 1958, and Unit 3 on March 5, 1959. A subsidiary of Ormet initially owned Kammer units 1 and 2; AEP operated all three units, and all three were integrated into the AEP System.

In 1967, AEP purchased Units 1 and 2 from Ormet, and in a 25-year agreement, Ormet became AEP’s largest customer. Industry changes later altered that arrangement. Ormet finally ceased operations at the Hannibal, Ohio, aluminum plant in October 2013.

Kammer Plant was named for Herbert A. Kammer, who spent 42 years with AEP, serving as executive vice president – Engineering and Construction under President Philip Sporn, during the time the plant bearing his name was built and placed into service. He ended his AEP career in 1964 as senior vice president and director, and died in 1966. Over the course of his career, Kammer guided the engineering, design and construction of power plants with a total generating capacity of nearly 11,000 MW.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Editor’s Note: A note of appreciation is due to Dan Moyer, Al Smith, Russ Gwin, Rita Kramer and Carmen Prati-Miller for their contributions.