Residents rally against coal-fired energy plant in Surry

Why not use the Franklin Paper Mill Plant? Just convert it! Franklin doesn't loose their industry status and Surry remains rural.

I think we should try underwater turbines, under something like the Gulf Stream. Perhaps we should have the plant, but a different energy source? Is burning coal cleaner burning than diesel?

Well, I would have to agree with the people that are suggesting for the power company to look elsewhere. When the company gets tired of the negative response directed towards their current site of choice, they can come around thirty-five miles southwest and set up shop here in Franklin Virginia. After hosting a papermill for the last century, I don't think that the negatives of having another coal power plant in the area would bother too many people. We have a skilled workforce in place that would just love to help out. Bring it. If scores of people show up to protest, we'll check their i.d. and make sure that they're from around here before we take their bickering seriously. Cool, huh?
Also, for the people that are thinking that another company might set up shop on the current International Paper property....do your research. All of the previous towns that have lost I.P. mills have seen that property sit for 5-10 years while I.P. tries to sell it. There are a lot of good aspects concerning the I.P. property such as the power plant, water access, rail, etc, but I wouldn't bank on an industry coming to our area and building there. We can only wait and see what plans ou

A power plant planned for 2016 using coal as its resource? Geez, I thought Virginia wants to build on its reputation as a technology state. For something seven years out from now, the conventional is accepted. It sounds like the cheap way out in the short term for greater problems in the long term.

The VP should have included some real facts in this article. For instance, what is Clean Coal? Clean Coal, as used by Dom Power and others in favor of the plant, only refers to the burning of the coal. There is no clean way to mine and deliver the coal, and no clean way to dispose of the Co2 and Fly Ash. When you ask Dom Power about the disposal, they try to side-step that issue. They will admit that the disposal methods are still being researched. For example, the want to pump the Co2 underground, but haven't fully developed and tested that method (at least that's what I heard them say in a radio interview a few months back). Obtaining the coal means either chopping the tops off mountains or the more expensive mining. Yes, we can burn it clean, but our neighbors in Appalachia have to suffer with a little more black lung disease.

Somone mentioned California's rolling blackouts. They didn't mention that California's plan to releive that is by using wind, solar, and other cleaner methods. California's power company is investing heavily in these methods.

VP - how about an article full of the facts about energy production?

People who think jobs will be created at Coal Plant by ODEC are not fully aware of how things truly work. ODEC has to contract out the construction of this plant , the builder will bring in their own work force, Surry does not have a local skilled workforce that is unemployed.
Furthermore ODEC has allready admitted that there is no requirement for the construction company to hire any Local residents during the construction phase. Once the plant is built ODEC must contract with a major utility to operate the plant , once that is done only union labor and licensed operators will be permitted to work at the plant. According to ODEC the operator may hire a small amount of local residents for yard maintenance and facility cleaning. Maybe 6 people.
Lets say Dominion Virginia Power agrees to operate the plant , that will mean any Dominion employee may work at this plant before any outside individual is hired , same for any other utility and this does not mean anyone who works there will live inside the community. People do not understand that ODEC has never , not ever operated a coal plant they are just the money man who fronts the cost or assists with cost for a percentage of the ele

Ask yourself why these things aren't being used as options as you (and I) would like them to be. No fair blaming greedy power companies or politicians of one party or another.

There are many reasons why we should be moving away from coal burning power plants. But the greedy power company isn't to blame.

I'd gladly trade the new plant for sufficient windmills off the VA coast to generate equivalent energy. How about you?

I have it. Those who are opposed to the plant should immediately have electricity removed from their homes. If there is truely "Overwelming opposition" to the plant, the decrease in demand will make the need for a new plant go away. Problem solved! Let's find solutions not just protest problems. I wonder how many of these people feel strongly enough about their cause to put their cause above their use of the very commodity they oppose?
Just a thought!

They want the power, but not the inconvenience. Like the patriots who support our troops as long as they don't have to see or hear them.

America - Land of the free, home of the rave.

Let these idiots freeze to death in the dark. Perhaps when people are uncomfortable enough, they might decide their own life is worth more than some arcane critter or plant.

Please stop with the Wind, Solar, and Tidal rhetoric.

Solar - HIGHLY inefficient, even with an increase of efficiency, it cannot supply electricity on an ongoing basis so it has to be subsidized with batteries. Not to mention, solar cell production and recycling produces silicon tetrachloride, lead, bromides, cadmium and chromium.

Wind - Again, highly inefficient. Denmark, one of the world’s largest users of wind driven electricity only gets 25% from wind. If a country the size of Denmark can't generate enough electricity from wind, the US certainly cannot.

Tidal - Basically a pipe dream. There are systems that generate electricity; however, to generate enough power to supply a region would require a system so large and so environmentally impactful that no one would
even consider it.

Nuclear is the single best option, but since our hands are tied on recycling fuel rods (thanks President Carter) and the irrational fear of the evils of radiation, we're likely to start seeing a nationwide loss of power.