The battle over climate change has arrived at our doorstep. Dominion Virginia Power has filed a request with the Virginia State Corporation Commission to approve a 585-megawatt coal burning plant in Wise County.
You could see it coming. After squashing every attempt to bring renewable energy and energy efficiency to the Commonwealth, and pushing through legislation to turn itself into an essentially unregulated monopoly, Dominion is now free to do pretty much whatever it damn well pleases. And for Dominion, that means making the money the old-fashioned way -- allowing electricity demand to keep skyrocketing, and meeting that demand through coal and nuclear plants.
Never mind the consequences. According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, "One 500-MW coal-fired power plant produces approximately 3 million tons/year of carbon dioxide (CO2)." So while awareness of the catastrophic consequences of climate change rises worldwide, here in Virginia, we don't seem to mind adding a little more fuel to the fire.
Of course, Dominion's PR people are smart enough to season their press release with lots of socially-conscious sounding buzzwords. Unfortunately, most of it is just blowing smoke. They say they'll make the plant compatible with carbon-capture technology when (if?) such technology becomes available. They say they'll use "clean coal" technology and are allegedly starting some programs to educate customers on energy efficiency.
All well and good, but at the end of the day, what we're talking about here is one more enormous investment in the same coal-burning technology that is imperiling our planet.
All of which raises a few questions:
Why hasn't the local media picked up on this story?
When will Virginia's leaders wake up to reality and start acting on climate change?
And what shall we do to stand in the way of Dominion's plans?
Dominion Virginia Power is pushing legislation in Virginia that would guarantee Dominion unprecedented profits and limit oversight. They are calling it "re-regulation".HB 3068 and SB 1416 will make Virginians spend billions of dollars in inefficient energy production before we invest in energy conservation - the cleanest and cheapest way to a long term energy solution.
These re-regulation plans ignore global warming, and actually reward Dominion for building more dirty coal-fired power plants that use obsolete technology...
How did this thing make it into law? I think "GreenMiles" is definitely onto something.
However, if Dominion were to build an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant instead, there would a clear path to sequestration. The problem is, of course, that IGCC power plants cost more than conventional power plants, and that there are lingering questions about their reliability.
At a bare minimum, I say that we should oppose Dominion unless and until they are able to make a convincing case (at least as convincing a caae as is commonly made for IGCC) that sequestration is feasible. We should also consider whether to oppose any and all new coal-fired power plants unless they incorporate sequestration in their initial construction. My own current inclination is to go for IGCC now, and sequestration later, but I acknowledge thet the evidence on global warming is so strong that maybe sequestration now is justified.
I will not be surprised if the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) sues to stop Dominion from building this conventional coal-fired power plant in SW Virginia. I hope they do. I have given them money in the past and expect to give them more in the future, and I encourage others to donate to SELC.
there is not yet any proof, indeed not even a serious arm-waving plan, for technology to enable conventional power plants to sequester (capture) carbon dioxideA Wikipedia page on carbon capture asserts flatly that amine technology is feasible and currently used. The article also says that IGCC is an alternative to conventional-coal-plus-amine, and states that CO2 can be scrubbed from its flue gases, as my comment above is asserting. In general, the remainder of my comment stands.