C
oal-burning electricity plants are a hot button for environmentalists who somehow have shown more interest in Dominion Virginia Power’s $1.5 billion station in Wise County than the much bigger, $5 billion plus one planned by a group of electrical cooperatives not all that far from Colonial Williamsburg.
The project is planned by the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative which is based outside of Richmond and represents 14 coops in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The plan is for two, 750-megawatt coal plants in the little town of Dendron in Surry County.
What is curious about the ODEC project is that it is much closer to tourism attractions and theme parks in Williamsburg, Jamestown and other spots. It would be the state’s biggest polluter and when I covered the issue earlier, state air pollution officials told me flatly that the amount of toxic mercury the plant would emit is many times too much. The mercury would shoot into the atmosphere and then fall as tiny particles on the already pollution-stressed James River and Chesapeake Bay.
So, it is intriguing that The Virginian-Pilot has a story that takes the issue to new dimension, such as that ODEC’s plan is splitting Surry County’s 6,000 plus folk along black and white and have and have not lines.
The Pilot says that blacks tend to want to plant because it would provide about 200 permanent jobs not including the 3,000 temporary construction jobs. Whites tend to oppose it because it will be huge, polluting and require about 500 noisy and dusty gondolas of coal coming in from the Norfolk Southern mainline every week.
Some of the haves say they don’t want their retirement homes in sleepy Surry squandered. Some of the have nots say they’d rather get a well-paying job at the plant rather than have to wake up before dawn to catch the Jamestown Ferry so they can change bed linen at the posh Williamsburg Inn.
And so it goes. There have been accusations of subterfuge and even bribery. ODEC, which needs about 50 permits for the behemoth, has launched an aggressive campaign for it, such as inviting ministers out for fried chicken and barbecue suppers.
I know how they operate. A year ago when I proposed doing a story about the project for Richmond magazine, ODEC immediately called and emailed (mispelling my name) the magazine’s publisher and editor saying I was biased because I had blogged on the Wise County plant. Richmond magazine balked.
When I went to Style Weekly, where I am now a contributing editor, they had no qualms. And when I learned that ODEC had sent similar warnings to Style, I called ODEC and threatened legal action. They shut up. Funny that I never get that rude treatment from Dominion. But it says more about weak-kneed Richmond magazine, which is better off sticking with light-weight stories about kitchen remodeling.
Besides their odd PR, ODEC does have some other issues. One is economic. One wonders why a collection of coops needs such a big plant. In late 2008, their biggest customer, the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, cut their ties with ODEC over a contract dispute. More likely is that ODEC plans to market the electricity to other utilities if it gets the plant. It also stands to reason that ODEC needs some partners, but who they might be, ODEC hasn’t said.
The class and caste issue in Surry County is an interesting development. But it, too, has its oddities. Unemployment there is about 7 percent or about the state average. It isn’t in the double digits as it is in Southside areas like Martinsville and Henry County.
Is the have and have not issue real? Or is it something ODEC has created and exploited?
Peter Galuszka