Isle of Wight votes against Surry County coal plant

Posted to: Business Environment News Western Tidewater
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The Associated Press
© November 18, 2011

ISLE OF WIGHT

The Isle of Wight County Board of Supervisors has voted to oppose Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's proposed $6 billion coal-fired power plant for Surry County.

The 3-1 vote Thursday came after a short and sometimes heated discussion.

The Daily Press (http://bit.ly/sgVNq3) reports two supervisors who lost in last week's election voted for the resolution to oppose the plant.

Re-elected incumbent Al Casteen voted against it. He says the county doesn't have enough information and shouldn't be taking a stance against a Surry County project.

New supervisor Rex Alphin abstained from voting.

Land-use ordinances for the 1,600-acre site where Old Dominion plans to build were approved last year by the Surry County Board of Supervisors and Dendron Town Council. Old Dominion also must secure dozens of environmental and air quality permits.

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One small action that will help

Submitted by debral29391 on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 5:11 pm.

is to committ to drying your clothes outside 80% of the time. You'll save money on your electric bill & reduce the need to build new coal plants. There is no such thing as an energy star dryer, they are all inefficient. In earlier times, a dryer was considered a luxury item, & in many countries such as Italy they are still rare. Hanging out laundry has become a symbol of poverty instead of thrift & common sense & is even prohibited in many communities. We used to have a clothespin factory here in Norfolk, but today there isn't one clothespin factory in all of the USA. Outdoor drying is a pretty painless scarifice and your clothes smell really good & last longer. Maybe it's much easier than we might think to make positive changes.

i love this woman

Submitted by beach23451 on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 9:57 pm.

Just got to say it,,,..

Line drying

Submitted by gabriellel45516 on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 7:18 pm.

I love my clothes line and use it often. I try not to do laundry on overcast or rainy days so as not to use the dryer and didn't use it all over the summer. huge difference in the electric bill.

Coal Mining

Submitted by justmefromnorfolk on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 3:18 pm.

The one other argument that doesn't seem to come out is where are we getting this coal? You can make clean coal burning generators but I haven't heard of any cleaner or safer ways to mine the coal or any cleaner ways to deliver it to the plant.

People of Surry: Don't believe!

Submitted by superpen on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 2:50 pm.

Please don't be suckers, good Surry people. Expect the coal folks to lie to your faces about "clean" coal and disposal of. Ask them what is clean about cancer! This plant will be a death sentence to people and the environment. Just say H_LL NO!

Good

Submitted by markk33831 on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 2:38 pm.

As much as the coal industry tries to say it, there is no such thing as 'clean' coal. Even if they do prevent pollutants from coming out the smokestacks, they still haven't figured out a way to safely dispose of the fly ash. Full and proper containment of it is very expensive. If it isn't done correctly, five to ten years later, people will start to get ill from the poisons in it. It's just not worth the risk when there are other methods of generating power that are safer and cleaner.

I'd support a natural gas plant before I'd go along with another coal fired plant.

Surry County will be known

Submitted by Mr. Wizard on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 12:34 pm.

as THE most polluted (spent nuclear fuel rods) and polluting (electric coal fired) county in the commonwealth.

Trade off for the residents: minimal token jobs for an earlier death due to greater ingestion of pollution.

Is it really worth it Surry County?

Your neighbors seem to think not by their humble, nonbinding vote.

You'll be killing me in the process too.

and

Submitted by jld30182 on Fri, 11/18/2011 at 2:35 pm.

you of course are not connected to the grid? Working everything off solar power I would suppose?

Off or on the Grid...

Submitted by CitizenGruben on Fri, 11/25/2011 at 2:01 pm.

I actually am an NNEC member, one of the ODEC member coops and I am not only on the grid, but generating more than I use so I am feeding my excess back to the grid. I do depend on my coop (NNEC) to provide me with power when there is no sun. There are already power plants in place (biomass and natural gas) that take care of the peak times and the times when solar and/or wind does not provide. We (A Better NNEC) also have figures showing how a strong efficiency program supported by the coop can remove the need for another coal plant or any additional power plants at all. There is no projected usage by any of the coop members of ODEC showing an increase in need warranting an investment of this size. We are supposed to be non-profit.