Panel Wants Cleaner-Burning Plant: State Air Pollution Board Asks Va. Power to Modify Its Proposed Wise Facility
By Rex Springston and Rex Bowman, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Dec. 1–A state environmental panel asked Dominion Virginia Power yesterday to come up with a less-polluting version of a proposed $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant the company wants to build in Wise County.
Meeting in Newport News, the state Air Pollution Control Board voted 3-1 to request that the utility “propose a plant that is the most protective of human health and the environment.”
“The board was not satisfied that the proposed coal-burning power plant is the best that can be done,” said Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, which provides staff for the board.
If built to Dominion Virginia Power’s design, the proposed Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center could pump up to 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air each year along with 25 million pounds of pollutants, including those that contribute to smog and acid rain. The plant would join other power plants at the top of the list of the state’s biggest polluters.
Dominion spokesman Dan Genest said company officials were surprised the board took any action at the meeting but noted that the board’s request will not slow the pace of the project or the permitting process.
“We thought that the meeting went really well. It was an opportunity for us to make our case,” Genest said. “We are confident that the Southwest Virginia Hybrid Energy Center protects the public health and the environment, and we are happy to comply” with the board’s request.
The utility plans to build the power plant on 1,700 acres of abandoned strip mine just west of the town of St. Paul and fuel it with Virginia coal and waste wood products. The plant would give Dominion Virginia Power 585 megawatts of power, enough to support 146,000 homes. Dominion says the additional power is necessary to meet the anticipated surge in demand.
Environmentalists and Wise residents argue that the mix of wood and Virginia’s coal is a dirty combination, and the company could obtain extra megawatts simply by encouraging customers to conserve energy.
Yesterday, board members wondered aloud about the benefits of burning coal and natural gas instead of wood, but the board did not specify any alternative it wants the utility to consider. Dominion Virginia Power needs a permit from the air board to operate the plant.
The board’s call for a cleaner operation is not the first time it has been willing to get tough with power plants. In 2005, the board proposed strict limits on plants’ mercury emissions, though the following year the General Assembly required less-stringent controls.
The legislature encouraged Dominion Virginia Power to build the plant in Wise several years ago when it decreed that any power station in Southwest Virginia that used only Virginia coal would be deemed a public good. However, the utility is seeking approval of the plant at a time when Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is promoting an energy policy that calls on the state to slash greenhouse gases.
The company hopes to win approval from the State Corporation Commission this spring and have the plant running by 2012.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or rbowman@timesdispatch.com.
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