The Virginia State Corporation Commission has issued an important press release:
The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has denied a request from Appalachian Power Company (APCo) to build a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia that would use "integrated gasification combined cycle" (IGCC) technology. The SCC also denied APCo's request for a rate increase to begin recovering construction costs for the new plant from its Virginia customers.In legal terms, the SCC found that APCo's proposal was neither "reasonable" nor "prudent," a finding that must be made under Virginia law before Virginia consumers can be charged for the costs of a new power plant.
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APCo had asserted that despite the uncertain cost, the value of the plant is its "potential" to capture and sequester carbon dioxide. The SCC noted, however, that the $2.23 billion cost estimate did not even include the potential cost to retrofit the plant at some uncertain future date with carbon capture and sequestration technology. APCo estimated the cost of such a retrofit at $200-300 million. The Attorney General estimated the retrofit costs at $300-500 million.
But before my Southwestern Virginia friends start to celebrate, I must add that this plant was to be built in West Virginia.
I do not understand why the same reasoning does not apply to Southwestern Virginia. The State Corporation Commission is using almost all of the economic reasons we have posed against the Wise County plant to deny this other plant while giving the go-ahead for Dominion to build in VA City.
If any of you understand what might be going on, please enlighten me.
Consider that IGCC plants are supposed to be even more easily suited for that fiction known as economically viable carbon capture and sequestration than pulverized coal plants like the one planned for VA City.
The following two sentences are for those of you who have been following this saga:
No, they do not have permits to build the plant.
Yes, they are building it anyway and have been doing so for several months.
Back to the SCC. What is really going on here? Is the Virginia SCC using a higher set of standards for West Virginia power plants than those for Southwestern Virginia?
This SCC press release was just forwarded to me by one of our Virginia friends, a Catholic nun, who has been following this issue. Her attached statement:
"Please see this decision. I can't help but believe that if our VA legislature had not done an end run around the SCC by passing legislation that said that the power plant in Virginia City was in the best interests of the people of VA, that a decision similar to this one could have been made by the SCC about the Dominion Power Plant. Amazing. The SCC was very clear in identifying the issues with the proposed plant in the APCO decision."
Amazing is right.
"The General Assembly has made a policy decision that the construction of "a coal-fueled generation facility that utilizes Virginia coal and is located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth . . . is in the public interest . " The proposed Coal Plant fits this description. Thus, the Commission has no discretion to make a separate public interest determination; by statute, the proposed facility is "not otherwise contrary to the public interest" under ยง 56-580.1) of the Code."
Some are speculating as to why Dominion (who gave over $5 million in political contributions from 1996-2007) get such preferential treatment over other electricity providers like APCo (who only gave $534,000 from 1996-2007). We can only guess as to why one company is flying through the regulatory process in Virginia, and the other is being stopped...
COALFIELD PROGRESS
Norton, VA
April 15, 2008Kilgore to coal execs: Make voice heard
KEITH STRANGE / Staff Writer
NORTON - State Del. Terry Kilgore told approximately 150 coal professionals that the coalfield region is "the Saudi Arabia" of coal in the United States, and that their support for the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center is critical in the face of vocal opposition to the plant.
"When did coal become a four-letter word?" Kilgore, R-Gate City, asked the crowd during the 37th Virginia Mining Association annual meeting at the Norton Holiday Inn Saturday.
Asserting that much of the opposition to Dominion Virginia Power's proposed coal-fired power plant at Virginia City comes from outside the region, Kilgore pointed out that the legislation enabling the plant was written specifically to locate a coal-fired plant in Southwest Virginia.
...Kilgore said that 2004 legislation spearheaded by state Sen. William Wampler of Bristol was specifically intended to make the location of the plant in the region more attractive to utility companies.
Dominion is now seeking regulatory approval to construct a 585-megawatt coal-fired power station in the St. Paul community. It has received State Corporation Commission approval, primarily because the legislation mandated the project in state law, Kilgore said.