First it was the enviros fighting the coal plant (surprising, I know). Then the students got on board. And earlier this week the religious community weighed in. Now it seems as if opposition is everywhere. First it was the enviros fighting the coal plant (surprising, I know). Then the students got on board. And earlier this week the religious community weighed in. Now it seems as if opposition is everywhere.
* On Monday morning, Governor Kaine was confronted on the Kojo Nnamdi Show by Paul Burman of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, grilling the Governor the expected rate hike associated with the plant (estimated at up to $1,000 a yr)
* Later that day, Governor Kaine arrived to give a talk to James Madison University, where he found this banner as well as a group of vocal students.
* Last week, NBC 29 reported that the Governor was met by concerned citizens on his vist to Charlottesville.
I'm told they were also at the Governor's stop at a movie premier in Richmond on Sunday as well as his post-session town hall meetings in Staunton and Alexandria.
At the beginning of his talk at JMU he said, "Protesters of this power plant in Wise County are outside and have been following me around all week." But from my vantage point, people aren't following the Governor everywhere. People everywhere are just getting pissed. But the question remains. Is it doing anything?
On one hand, Gov. Kaine is standing by his original argument that this plant will help fight global warming, claiming at the JMU event that (paraphrased) "we would be much better off in the fight against global warming if all plants were like this".
On the other hand, the Governor has been scaling back his support from the days when he would dispatch his cabinet secretaries to publicly flack for the plant. In recent statements he is putting responsibility on the State Corporation Commission or the DEQ, or pointing to the General Assmly directive that got this all going. At the JMU meeting, he added that 'when this bill was on my desk two years ago, no one told me to take it out' as an excuse for his actions. Then again, if he is trying to make excuses, does that mean he thinks there is something that needs excusing?
March 12, 2008Dominion playing shell game with pollution impacts of Wise Co. coal plant
State air board pressed to retain authority over pollution permit
Richmond - Dominion Power is playing fast and loose with projections about air pollution impacts of its proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County, a coalition of groups said today in a filing with the Department of Environmental Quality. Among other serious deficiencies in its permit application, the utility shuffles between various types of fuel sources, making an analysis of pollution impacts meaningless. It also fails to sufficiently re-analyze mercury emissions in light of last month's landmark federal court ruling that mercury is a toxic chemical and must be regulated.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed more than 60 pages of critical analysis, supported by 38 exhibits, with the DEQ today, the last day for the public to comment on the draft permit the agency issued for Dominion's controversial plan to build a 585-megawatt, $1.8 billion coal-fired plant in Wise County. SELC is representing the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and the Sierra Club.
Citing the unprecedented public involvement in this highly polluting proposal - public hearings in Richmond and St. Paul have been filled beyond capacity - SELC is asking the state Air Pollution Control Board to retain final authority over whether to let Dominion build the power plant.
"We are asking the air board to hold Dominion responsible for its failure to provide an honest accounting of the pollution impacts of this plant," said Sarah Rispin, SELC staff attorney. Under Virginia law, DEQ will decide whether to issue the final permit unless the air board specifically retains authority.
Wise County and surrounding areas are already polluted by another coal-fired power plant in adjacent Russell County known as the Carbo plant and owned by American Electric Power. That plant contributes to violations of federal ambient air quality standards for several pollutants. Dominion's plant would worsen air pollution in the region with yearly emissions of at least 3,369 tons of sulfur dioxide, 739 tons of particulate matter, 1,971 tons of nitrogen oxides, 4,132 tons of carbon monoxide, 139 tons of volatile organic compounds, and between 49 and 72 pounds of mercury.
But, Rispin said, these numbers themselves are impossible to rely on because of the inadequate and inconsistent analysis done by Dominion. "This is really a shell game Dominion is playing - they've changed the numbers from one page to the next, so it's anyone's guess what the impacts could be."
Throughout its documentation, the utility changes the mixture of fuels it says it would use, rendering an analysis of air pollution impacts meaningless, Rispin said. For example, the utility says in various places that it would burn 100% central Appalachian coal, 100% run-of-mine coal, 60% waste coal and 40% central Appalachian coal; and, 83% run-of-mine coal and 17% wood and waste coal. Further, Dominion failed to analyze the content of the waste coal it plans to burn; waste coal, or "gob" is widely known to contain more sulfur, mercury, and other harmful pollutants than newly mined coal.
Dominion's analysis on mercury emissions are also faulty. Deposited in surface waters, mercury turns into a potent neurotoxin that accumulates in fish and poses serious developmental risks to fetuses, infants and even adults, but it has not been regulated. In February, in a case that SELC litigated, a federal court ruled that mercury emissions from power plants must be regulated. While Dominion had previously said the Wise County plant would emit 72 pounds of mercury yearly, it now claims emissions of 49 pounds yearly, using the same technology and same rate of mercury captured. The DEQ has rushed through a separate mercury permit, now required because of the federal ruling, based on the lower number.
"Suddenly Dominion can cut mercury pollution by a third using the same method? Either the air permit or mercury permit contain seriously flawed calculations, or Dominion has changed assumptions about the fuel mixture - without telling anyone - to meet a mercury limit that still fails to comply with the Clean Air Act" said Cale Jaffe, another SELC staff attorney working on the case. "Dominion needs to commit to a set fuel mixture so the public and the State Air Pollution Control Board have accurate information about how much pollution this plant would dump in the air every year."
Other failings SELC points out include:
* Dominion omitted entire portions of its required analysis, failing to look at effects of the plant on fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and ozone levels in the air.
* Although the Clean Air Act requires an extensive search of methods available for limiting pollution from new power plants, Dominion failed to look at several categories of control technology.
* Dominion dismissed out of hand steps as elementary as cleaning coal before burning it, or using more cutting-edge technology like integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), a method which drastically reduces conventional pollutants as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
No one's blaming Kaine for his actions of two years ago. But we can blame him for continuing to support this power plant today.