Coal's grasp tightens on Va.

Dominion Virginia Power says that it will cut emissions at its "clean coal" plant in Wise County by almost 50 percent. Executives from the state's largest utility told the editorial board recently that it's also looking to expand its portfolio of green energy, which now makes up just 2 percent of its capacity.

All that sounds like good corporate citizenship, and a benefit for the environment. And it is, as far as it goes. But it's nowhere near as helpful in repairing a damaged planet as it could be.

Dominion's $1.6 billion Wise County plant must run on Virginia coal, and would produce a significant slug of electricity for a state that needs more than it currently makes. But it would also add unnecessary pollution to the skies, and dangerous mercury to Hampton Roads' already fouled waters.

Dominion says it has a deal with the U.S. Forest Service and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality that would help protect wilderness areas around the plant. The company agreed to cut sulfur dioxide emissions from 3,300 tons a year to 1,684. Sulfur dioxide is the primary culprit in acid rain.

The Bristol Herald-Courier, a newspaper rooted in coal country, said this before Tuesday's deal: "[T]he state's Air Pollution Control Board has determined it will be one of the biggest polluters in Virginia. Let us repeat that for emphasis. The Virginia City plant is on course to become one of the biggest polluters in the state."

After the emissions deal, that fact remains true. But that's the nature of coal-fired plants. Even the ones with the lowest emissions - and we have no doubt that Dominion is using the best technology it can find - are dirty things. Halving the emissions of a "clean coal" plant doesn't make it anywhere near clean.

One of the other dirty things that comes out of coal-fired stacks, unfortunately for area fishermen and those of us who enjoy their catch, is mercury, a dangerous and toxic heavy metal. Mercury, much of it from coal-fired plants, has rained so heavily on Hampton Roads that many waterways contain fish that aren't safe to eat.

Which brings us back to green power, which in its highest form produces no acid rain, no smog and no mercury.

According to Pilot staff writer Scott Harper, Dominion is seeking proposals to provide the company with renewable power - things like wind and solar and hydroelectric.

The federal government had considered adding requirements for such sources to the just-passed energy bill, but the measure failed in the Senate. So, instead, the power company finds itself having to bow to the will of the states in which it does business.

North Carolina has mandated that 12.5 percent of an electricity company's power come from renewable sources by 2021. Virginia's "requirement" is 12 percent by 2020, except that the commonwealth's plan is entirely voluntary, thanks to the efforts of companies like Dominion.

Just a few years ago, Sen. William Wampler of Bristol managed to have the coal-fired plant declared "in the public interest," bypassing the normal decision-making process.

All of which leaves North Carolina with a mandate for green energy sources, and Virginia with a mandate for one of the dirtiest.

Dominion has made tentative moves toward cleaning up its electric-generating operations. It has stepped up efforts to build new nuclear capacity. The company is actively searching for alternative energy sources.

But Dominion could do much for the environment and Virginia by simply scuttling the coal-fired plant it has worked so hard to build.