Dominion coal plant requires scrutiny

The state Air Pollution Control Board voted last week to take charge of the approval for a proposed coal-burning power plant in southwestern Virginia.

Dominion, the utility that wants to build the $1.8 billion plant, declared the decision "disappointing," warning that any delay could bring higher costs.

It's an odd choice of words to use when a citizen board explicitly tasked with controlling pollution exercises its duty to take a close look at a facility that could end up being one of the commonwealth's biggest polluters.

Routine air pollution permits are handled by the state's environmental staff, but the competing energy and environmental issues bound up in the coal plant make the board's decision not merely logical but essential. A project of this scope and consequence cries out for closer scrutiny than it has received so far.

The project has been on greased skids from the start, thanks to its friends at the state Capitol such as Sen. William Wampler of Bristol. Wampler tucked a provision into a 2004 utility measure that declared the plant to be "in the public interest" if it used Virginia coal.

Another law passed last year allowed Dominion to apply early for a rate increase to develop the plant. Second, there is widespread public interest over the impact the plant will have on air pollution. More than 800 people attended hearings to raise concerns about emissions containing mercury, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants.

The board's decision to weigh in on the permit ensures an optimum level of sunshine as important decisions are made. Citizen board members will have an open discussion of the pollution limits imposed on the plant, and they will vote in public on the final permit.

Third, members of the air board were chosen for their expertise in the topic and deserve a voice in permit decisions. The term "citizen board" does not imply that appointees are drawn from a hat. Bruce Buckheit is a former head of air pollution enforcement at the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Vivian Thomson is a professor of environmental politics at the University of Virginia. Hullihen Moore is a former member of the State Corporation Commission and an expert in public utility law.

Finally, legislators spent the past two years debating whether the state's air and water boards should have the power to approve permits. Lawmakers ultimately concluded that the boards' authority should be preserved. Legislators were fully aware of the pending coal plant permit at the time and intended for the air board to have a role in its disposition.

Given the expense of the project, its impact on air quality and the intensity of public interest, it's hard to imagine a project more deserving of a citizen board's open and deliberative consideration.