DENDRON
Dozens of square black signs have cropped up along the main highway leading to this rural town in Surry County, all with the same blunt message: No Coal Plant.
Visible up and down Va. 31, or Rolfe Highway, the placards refer to one of the biggest public debates in years in the quiet farm belt between Richmond and Hampton Roads - a proposed power plant that would be the second-largest of its kind in Virginia.
To be stoked almost entirely by coal, the plant would cost the developer, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, between $4 billion and $6 billion to build.
It would bring jobs and tax revenues to economically needy Surry County. But so, too, would it bring smog, mercury and soot that could drift over Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay.
Trying to defeat the project, environmental groups have flocked here, while residents take sides or continue to weigh the pros and cons.
The debate, which started after ODEC announced its site preference for Dendron in December, expanded this week to include a new player: the Army Corps of Engineers.
The Norfolk district of the corps will decide whether to issue a federal environmental permit for the power plant. A permit would be needed because the plant and associated rail and water lines would be built atop protected wetlands.
Of the 1,600 acres that make up the Dendron site, about 430 are wetlands that buffer the headwaters of the nearby Blackwater River. Of that acreage, about 46 acres would be lost to development under current designs, said Jeb Hockman, a utility spokesman.
ODEC also needs approval to build a 15-mile pipeline, which would withdraw millions of gallons of water from the James River and discharge treated cooling water back into the James.
On Wednesday and Thursday last week, corps officials held public meetings in Sussex and Surry counties to discuss their upcoming study, called an environmental impact statement, which could take nearly two years to complete.
Melissa Nash, corps project manager, said she expects to make a decision about the permit - "a yes or a no" - by summer 2011.
About 30 people showed up for the Sussex hearing, and 80 more came the next night to Surry. A good turnout, considering the population of Dendron is about 300.
"We're not for the project, we're not against the project," Rick Henderson, deputy director of regulatory affairs for the corps, told the crowd Thursday night at Surry Middle School.
ODEC executives say they are fine with the lengthy review process and are optimistic they still can begin construction in 2012 and crank out their first megawatts of electricity in 2016.
"We understand it's a major project and will take time to go over all these issues," including the presence of any endangered species or any cultural or historical resources, said David Smith, ODEC's director of environmental, health and safety management.
Smith noted that ODEC, a nonprofit wholesaler of electricity in three states, including Virginia, needs about 50 government permits before the Dendron plant can be built.
Before the hearings, project opponents held a news conference, reminding reporters that the plant comes as Virginia is trying to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that result from the burning of fossil fuels.
"Why should we be building another dirty coal plant?" asked Kristen Hood, representing the advocacy group Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Lisa Craig, who lives about seven miles away in the town of Surry, said she and her family, including two children, moved to the area five years ago - specifically to get away from industrial emissions.
If Craig had known a coal-fired power plant was planned in Surry County, she said, she would not have moved here.
"It's not that we don't want it in our backyard," Craig said. "We don't want it in anyone's backyard."
As proposed, the plant would churn out about 1,500 megawatts of electricity from two main boilers - energy that reportedly is needed to plug an existing shortage, as well as an even larger one in the future.
Like California, ODEC officials stressed, Virginia imports electricity to satisfy its current needs.
New rail and highway spurs would be needed to shuttle coal and other materials to the property. At least one landfill, and probably two, would be required to store tons of tainted fly ash resulting from coal being burned.
Politically, plant opponents lost their top backer when gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran ran third in this week's Democratic primary. The winner, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, has said he favors the project if all environmental safeguards are included.
The Republican candidate for governor, Bob McDonnell, supports the plant as a way to balance Virginia's energy portfolio.
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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Cypress Creek Power Station Project
Disclosure: I work for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC). This is a follow-up to our previous responses. Please see those below.
Re:additional nuclear power, ODEC is participating with Dominion Virginia Power in the expansion of the North Anna Nuclear Station's Unit 3, but is not involved with the Surry Power Station and therefore has no control over its operations or expansion. Re: emissions, ODEC will use supercritical pulverized coal generation technology to increase the efficiency of the proposed Cypress Creek facility. This means we will use only 70% of the coal used by older units to produce the same amount of electricity. Also, ODEC will use maximum achievable and best available control technology to reduce emissions of by-products such as mercury, SO 2 and NO x. ODEC will market fly ash to reduce the amount that must be stored. Stored fly ash will ultimately be in a solid state -eliminating the possibility of a TVA-like disaster. The stable solid will be housed in a double-lined landfill permitted by the DEQ, a regulatory agency responsible for protecting the environment. Fly ash will not be stored as a liquid. For more information on this project, please visit www
Yield to the Emissions
With the release of the state's mercury report, the fifth largest emitter of mercury in the region is the VEPCO's Chesapeake Energy Center. When winds blow from the south and southwest, the emissions from tht plant blanket the region across most of the populated areas with impacts observed in the freshwater lakes in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. With a coal fired plant sited to the west of the area, troublesome emission coverage of this area of the Commonwealth will be nearly complete and constant. Sufficient pollution controls are sought if permits require and public opinion demand. The cost of doing business must incorporate proactive and future looking actions on the part of the developer. The pollution controls must be complete and absolute.
ODEC Answers
Disclosure: I work for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC).
We appreciate the interest in the proposed Cypress Creek Power Station project and want to address some comments/questions posted here. Due to limited space, some of our response will be featured in a follow-up post.
(Part 1)ODEC is a not-for-profit organization owned by nearly 300,000 Virginia households, farms and businesses to which we provide electricity. Our profits are returned to those we serve. (i.e. We aren't driven my monetary gains.) Also ODEC and Dominion Virginia Power are not the same company. Re: environmental concerns: numerous federal, state and local regulatory bodies will scrutinize the planning, construction and operation of this proposed facility. They will only issue permits that ensure human health and the environment will not be harmed. Re:need-
Virginia will be 4,000 MW short of electricity by 2017 and our consumer-members' demand is projected to double within 10-20 yrs. Virginia is already the 2nd largest importer of extremely expensive open market electricity. Re: cost to our members- we project that this facility will save our consumer-members $14 billion.
$14 Billion
Let's see your analysis. Answer to David Schlissel and his report with Synapse. How do you come up with $14 billion when none of us know exactly how the federal government will respond to carbon? I think you all put your cart before the horse; in this case you put your DEQ application before the town's approval.
Ludicrous
It's absolutely insane that in 2009, we are proposing to build a coal fired power plant in Surry, VA. These plants are scientifically proven to be devastating to the atmosphere, the local environment, water quality, and human health, and yet, somehow, one is going to be built to rain down its pollutants all over Tidewater Virginia. How can this be happening? Total madness.
This is a terribly biased article
The writer of this article obviously has bought the story line of the plant's opponents in total with very little regard for any balance.
This plant is needed to meet the burgeoning demand for electric power, and unless the opponents (and Mr. Harper) have a better, ready solution, they should tone down their rhetoric.
As for the writer, he needs to re-learn one of the basic tenets of journalism, i.e., a reporter is not supposed to interject his own editorial views into a supposedly objective article.
But It Is True
As I read, and re-read, and read again, the article recounts what happened and the facts. This massive proposal WILL bring tax revenues and a small amount of jobs but it will also bring pollution. There are 87 signs in Surry County displaying that many citizens do not want this project in their quite town. As expected, some sour proponents of the project have begun removing the signs in people's yards--actions like a child. The plant would be stoked mainly by coal---2% biomass (enough for greenwashing). A permit from the Corps IS needed because they do want to build it over PROTECTED wetlands. And then Mr. Harper talks to a local citizen who will have to see the coal plant as she passes through the main road to get to work every day. I'm not sure why you say this is biased, it is true.
As for our "growing" demand.
We should tread slowly as the utility makes the claim we must have power and we're running short. Right now we are at an overload on the grid because of our recession. Many industrial plants are turning off an hour or two before they normally would to conserve to keep themselves afloat. Many industrial plants have shut down due to the recession. Now is the time to i
The Surrey site was made to
The Surrey site was made to support additional reactors. Build those instead.
Coal plant construction
Go figure, "easy target" rural area (small population) targeted by corporations just to make a buck. I mean thats what it is all about the almighty dollar, no one to fight the construction! Just force it to fit no matter what, first it was the OLF (government will force what it wants) and now the Coal plant, who cares what any of this does to the residents, the land, the animals, the environment, or the farmers? One of the biggest concerns I have being a resident of Surry is the ground water, everyone is on well water out here except residents close to the town of Surry, what about the mercury contamination in your ground water? What about the contamination of the roads and rail areas with ground coal and coal dust being transported? What about the storage of large amounts of unburned coal with the dust contaminents blowing everywhere, anyone living close to this plant will be miserable or possibly very sick. They talk about helping the community with jobs and tax dollars, I wonder what kind of tax break Surry County is going to give this corporation to get them to build the plant in Dendron? (loans, tax breaks for years) Oh and one more concern, the proposed 15 mile cooling pipe t
No one is asking the right questions
Is this plant REALLY needed? What Dominion going to do with the fly ash? How much will building the plant affect everyone's power bill? What is being done in the planning of the plant to eliminate harmful emmittions? Are will there be an emergency system built in to warn people of dangerous chemical discharges?
We've learned a lot over the years and one of the things we have learned is there is no such thing as a 'clean' coal plant. The region would be better off with another nuclear power plant than a coal-fired plant, nuclear waste and all.
Wetlands
When all else fails, the wetlands issue is the one thing that can stop this disgusting project. The Dems are pro enviroment and they are strongly in control at this time. The Army Corp usually swings with whoever is at the helm at the time of their decision. They stopped the King Williams Reservoir for the exact same reason.
It's over for Dendron
The plant will be built. The land was bought by a group several years ago with the knowledge of what was ahead. One of the owners is on the planing commission of an adjoining county and knew of the project. Insiders always have the edge. The trees were cut and not replanted as most loggers do. First sign something different was up. A permit to mine sand was applied for at Dendron too. By then it was clear to many something different was going on there. Then a wetlands survey was done.
The historic part is quite funny. The old farmhouse dating back for some time was immediately tore down. So much for history. This is just your typical corporation doing what they typically do.
Dendron sure WAS a nice place to live.
It's NOT over for Dendron
The battle has only begun. We can defeat this in more than one way. The town council still very much has to vote for the proposal. ODEC has not officially submitted any zoning ordinance for that land, it is only zoned right now as a conditional use for the sand and gravel mine which cannot be used for a coal plant. In addition to winning in the town we also can spend energy and time working with the Army Corps of Engineers to write a Environmental Impact Statement which will at least take two years- the King William Reservoir took ten years and because they delayed the project for so long it was ultimately canceled. As of right now ODEC needs a zoning permit, 100 air permits and a state corporation commission's certificate of necessity----so it is very much not a done deal. We have a lot of opportunity to stop this and I feel that we will. People in the town need to stand strong and preserve their rural quite farm life and the surrounding communitites need to stand with them to protect their water and air quality. Please write the Dendron Town Council and let them know you don't want a coal plant. Tell your friends and family, together we can stop this.