ST. PAUL, Va. (AP) - Proponents of a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant are eager for the jobs it would create in economically depressed southwest Virginia, while critics worry about its environmental impact.
The Dominion Virginia Power proposal will be the focus of hearings Monday and Tuesday nights by staff of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The lengthy construction phase of the 585-megawatt Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center could create 800 jobs. And it could support more than 250 coal-mining jobs once it went on line in 2012. The plant could employ 75.
Dominion plans to use advanced technology to burn cleaner coal, and has said the plant will burn only coal mined in Virginia, as well as coal waste and wood products.
A coalition of opponents that includes groups such as the Southern Environmental Law Center and Appalachia Voices contends the utility's plans to capture carbon emissions before they can be released into the air won't happen now because the technology does not exist. They also fear more environmentally damaging strip mining in the region.
The state Air Pollution Control Board has asked Dominion, the state DEQ and the public for information about other options for the plant, including different technology or burning another type of coal.
Last week, Dominion proposed to the DEQ that it convert its power station in Fluvanna County from coal to natural gas. The utility said construction of the Wise County plant and conversion of the Bremo Bluff plant, the utility's oldest coal-fired plant in Virginia, would result in large reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide and mercury.
A draft DEQ permit would allow the plant to emit 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide and 12,500 tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide into the air every year.
U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Park Service officials last year raised concerns that air emissions could harm a North Carolina wilderness and federal park, but have indicated they now are satisfied with Dominion's plans.
After the Forest Service voiced concern to the DEQ that plant emissions of nearly 3,300 tons of sulfur dioxide yearly could harm visibility and plant life in the Linville Gorge Wilderness, Dominion agreed to reduce the emissions to 1,684 tons.
The Park Service had raised similar concerns about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but Rob Feagins of the DEQ said federal officials had indicated they were not likely to find the plant would cause and adverse impact.
The DEQ will receive more testimony Feb. 19 in Richmond, then the agency will determine how to address the issues raised and submit its findings to the air board. The DEQ will be the one to issue an air permit unless the board decides to do so, according to spokesman Bill Hayden.
The State Corporation Commission, which also must issue a permit for the plant, has held hearings in Richmond as well.
Dominion Virginia Power, a unit of Dominion Resources Inc., is one of the country's 10 largest investor-owned electric utilities.
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© 2008 AFX News
