Trade-offs may cloud Surry coal plant project

Virginia needs energy. We need an astonishing and growing amount of electricity to power houses and businesses and - soon - automobiles we plug into outlets. The question is how badly we need it and how cheap it should be.

There are trade-offs no matter what we choose. Nuclear energy produces toxic waste. Natural gas is expensive. Hydroelectricity means diverting rivers. Wind needs a breeze.

Despite the best efforts - technological and in public relations - coal pollutes. But it's cheap, plentiful and a reliable technology.

The trade-offs come down to these: Is our need for cheap electricity so acute that we'll sacrifice the quality of waterways already tainted with mercury and nutrients? Is it worth more smog in already polluted skies? Should we risk rising seas in a place that's surrounded by water?

This week, the Army Corps of Engineers will hold "scoping" meetings. They're designed to find the questions to answer about Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's plan to build Virginia's largest coal-fired power plant in Surry County. The $4 billion Cypress Creek facility would be upwind of both Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay, which would be affected by pollutants from the plant.

Those meetings will be held at Sussex Central High School starting at 5 this evening. The meeting moves to Surry County High on Thursday.

ODEC says it needs the capacity of the new plant to satisfy growing demands from its customers. The cooperative intends to build the plant using the best technology available. The problem? The technology isn't - so far - anywhere near good enough.

There's simply no practical way to keep carbon dioxide from being emitted as coal is burned, which means coal plants contribute substantially to global warming. They also emit mercury, which causes brain damage, and dioxin, which causes cancer, as well as chemicals that make smog.

The problems don't stop at the plant. Mining, especially in the Appalachian Mountains, is often an environmentally disastrous process. Fly ash, produced as a byproduct of burning coal, contains arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and other toxins that must be contained.

Many questions about the project need to be answered. There's no doubt that America and Virginia need the energy that ODEC's plant would provide. But do we need it this badly?