It’s guys like Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, who make Gov. Timothy M. Kaine look like a moderate on energy and environmental issues. Speaking at the Commonwealth of Virginia Energy and Sustainability Conference in Richmond yesterday, Flavin said the U.S. should stop building coal-burning power plants because they contribute to global warming.

“Starting right now, we should not be building any new coal-fired power plants,” said Flavin, as quoted by Rex Springston with the Times-Dispatch.

Flavin made his comments at a time when Dominion Virginia Power is building a coal-burning power plant in Wise County to meet projected increases in electricity demand from its customers.

Gov. Kaine’s Virginia Energy Plan sets a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent from projected 2025 levels. But the Kaine administration wants to get there without scrapping the Wise power plant, which would create jobs and generate taxes in economically stressed Southwest Virginia. Coal will long be a part of Virginia’s energy mix, Steve Walz, Kaine’s top energy advisor, told Springston.

“We will still be burning coal to make energy,” Walz said, “but we need to do it smarter and cleaner.”