DENDRON
The Town Council on Monday accepted an application for a zoning permit from Old Dominion Electric Cooperative to build a coal-fired power plant in the center of the small town.
The move i s the first step for the nonprofit cooperative of electric power companies to invest $4 billion to $6 billion into the plant. I f built, it would be the largest in the state.
It also means the council rescinded an earlier decision, made in July, that would have allowed the vote to remain in Dendron's hands. This way, said Mayor Yvonne Pierce, the Surry County Planning Commission will make a recommendation about the plant, but the final decision will be up to the Dendron council.
The county Planning Commission is expected to return a recommendation within 90 days, the mayor said.
The power plant, to be built on 1,400 acres that once was home to a large lumber company, would be in the center of town. Dendron once was bustling, with about 3,000 residents, until the lumber company failed during the Great Depression, proponents of the power plant say. Now, the town has about 300 residents.
Some citizens say they're concerned about emissions the plant could spew into the atmosphere.
The power plant, which would bring water for cooling from the James River, is expected to have to go through at least 50 permitting applications before the company can begin construction. Coal for the plant would come in by train from western Virginia.
ODEC expects to begin construction in 2012 and crank out the first megawatts of electricity in 2016.
Betsy Shepherd, who has actively opposed the plant, said she hopes that doesn't happen. On Monday night, she presented Town Council members with thick binders containing concerns about coal-fired power plants.
"This is from the Environmental Protection Agency; there are death and health problems from those plants," Shephe rd said after the meeting.
"The greenhouse gases they release are a threat to the public health and welfare. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States."
Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561, linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com
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Dendron power plant zoning application accepted
This is very sad news. The handwriting was on the wall with the last few meetings at both the Dendron Town Council and the Surry BOS meetings. If this is what they want, so be it. We will all pay for their lack of vision.
Their eyes are so filled with dollar signs -- blotting out the truth of how they will drastically alter this area and the health and welfare of the people -- that one day when they will wake up to the manipulation they will likely say to themselves, what have we done to our Town, to our County, to our Region. Alas, at that point it will be too late to correct it.
Dendron needs the jobs but at what cost?
I have mixed feelings about this coal burning plant. Dendron needs the jobs, but do we need all the pollution this place will emit? Mercury, arsnic, all the fly ash that will be generated. The State historically lags in enforcement of the emissions laws and we find out about all the bad stuff we have been breathing and drinking long after it's been done. Then it's "oh my goodness, how could they have done that"? Tougher regulations and strict enforcement are needed and only then would I welcome this place with open arms. It takes me an hour from my house to get to Dendron but I just recently found out I am within the boundry of where all this pollutants could potentially fall.