The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports:

In two Western Pennsylvania river towns where people once might have worried about air pollution, concern for workers losing their livelihoods could trump concern for human health and the environment if FirstEnergy Corp. turns off the lights at coal-fired power plants in October.

“There just aren’t many good-paying jobs left around here anymore. I’m fortunate to have this job,” said Melissa Morse, 30, a clerk at a 7-Eleven about a mile from Washington County’s Mitchell Power Station, one of the plants slated to close on Oct. 9.

The other is Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station in Greene County, across the Monongahela River from Masontown in Fayette County.

Some residents blame the Obama administration for more stringent environmental regulations taking effect in 2015, though for years some energy companies avoided installing costly scrubbers on power plants under earlier Environmental Protection Agency rules…