SURRY
Yvonne Pierce, mayor of the small town of Dendron, sat i n the third row of chairs lined up at a meeting of the Coalition to Keep Surry Clean, and she shook her head.
"We had about 100 people at the last meeting, and they don't want it," Pierce said. "Every comment was negative."
Another 100 people attended Tuesday's meeting, where environmental experts talked about the health hazards of the $6 billion coal-fired energy plant that Old Dominion Electric Cooperative wants to put on 1,400 acres in the center of the tiny Surry County town, about 18 miles from Williamsburg.
"No coal is clean coal," read bright orange placards that decorated the front of the Surry recreational center, where the meeting was held.
"The company is saying that the plant would generate 200 permanent jobs in running the plant," said Glenn Besa, Virginia director of the Sierra Club and one of the speakers. "But it would also generate a tremendous amount of pollution."
The coal, brought in from the mountains, would be harvested by blowing up mountains, Besa said. Emissions from the power plant would wind up in waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay, he said.
"Coal for energy generates more carbon dioxide, and mercury in the waters is largely from coal-fired power plants," he said.
Peter DeFur, an environmental scientist who works with the American Lung Association, said the plant would increase train and truck traffic in the village and that heavy metals from the plant, like arsenic and nickel, would never go away.
Dr. Christine Llewellyn of Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital said the plant could cause more asthma attacks, chronic bronchitis, and other ailments for residents living nearby.
"From Hampton Roads to Richmond, it's already unhealthy to breathe the air," Llewellyn said. "Stand your ground. Speak your mind. Vote your conscience."
It was county native Beth Roach who brought applause from the crowd.
"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors," she said. "We borrow it from our children."
Opposition against the plant seems to be increasing, Pierce said.
Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com
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Virginia's energy alternatives
According to the US Dept of Energy, Virginia has many other options to meet its energy needs. These include excellent biomass resource potential, low to moderate geothermal potential, moderate hydropower resources, good useful solar resources throughout the state, and good to excellent wind resources in several areas of the state. In addition, “saving energy through efficiency is less expensive than building new power plants. Utilities can plan for, invest in, and add up technology-based energy efficiency measures and, as a consequence, defer or avoid the need to build a new power plant.” Bottom line: We don’t need no stinking coal plant.
Conservation yes, coal no!
Instead of fouling our land and water with coal and its noxious by-products, we would be much better off, and healthier, to adopt sound conservation practices. We use far more energy than other industrialized nations. There is nothing good about coal: from its dangerous and damaging extraction, its burning resulting in ash that will ultimately and expensively need to be dealt with, to the poisons going into the air and water. Its just not worth it. Maybe one day research will lead to a safe and effective way to use coal. Until then, leave it in the ground!
And it came to pass
That reqardless of how many people are against this plant, It will be built and there earth and it's people will die a little more.
No coal is...
No coal is...no heat, no lights, no refrigeration, no traffic lights, no hospital equipment, and no, brace yourself, Internet. I bet a few more than a 100 would show up with negative comments if those weren't available.
so what do you suggest?
You want power, right? What should we do? How about a nuclear plant on the site? How about punitive taxes and fees for exceeding a pseicifc consumption? How do opponents of power plants expect to get power with ever-increasing demand? Sounds like a case of NIMBY rather than concerns for our earth.
And, BTW: "No coal is clean coal," read bright orange placards that decorated the front of the Surry recreational center, where the meeting was held. President Obama championed clean coal technology in his campaign. New coal-fired plants should come as a surprise to nobody.