Environmental groups are cheering tough new restrictions in the draft air permit for Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed natural gas-fired power plant in Greensville County.
If approved by the state Air Pollution Control Board, the regulations would tighten protective standards for carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, methane, and particulate matter. Dominion also would have to conduct additional testing to prevent formaldehyde pollution and methane leakage.
“The impacts of this decision could ripple through the energy sector,” said Evan Johns, staff attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates in a press release. “By strengthening efficiency requirements, this permit will serve as the new benchmark against which all similar Clean Air Act permits must be measured in the future.”
Appalachian Mountain Advocates, the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter and Appalachian Voices now are pushing to apply the same standards to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Update: When contacted late this morning, Dominion officials said they had just received a copy of the draft and had not had a chance to review it.
— JAB
