In “Strife in the Coalfields,” Peter Galuszka delves into the environmental pros and cons of the $1.6 billion facility, which would generate enough electricity to power 146,000 homes — mostly in the eastern part of the state.
While Dominion proposes loading up the power plant with virtually every new clean-coal technology known to man — which prompted my questions of whether the plant could possibly be a cost-effective means of generating power — it’s still not clean enough for the greenies. As Galuszka summarizes their fears, the plant “would generate huge volumes of greenhouses gases, inflict pollution that causes potentially fatal respiratory disease, employ heavy coal trucks that will crumble highways, and encourage mountaintop removal, a method of surface mining on a vast scale that Virginia has so far largely escaped.”
As readers of this blog know, I’m no apologist for Dominion. However, it strikes me that several of the environmental criticisms of this project are potentially without merit. Let’s take them one by one.
(1) Mountaintop removal. Mountaintop removal is indeed a highly destructive mining method that literally scrapes off entire mountaintops to reach coal seams. But Dominion hasn’t sourced its coal yet. If the power plant is approved, the power company likely will sign long-term contracts with one or two suppliers for the bulk of its coal. Presumably, the SCC could require, as a condition of approval, that none of the coal originate from operations using the mountaintop removal mining method.
(2) Coal trucks. Heavy-loaded coal trucks do pound local roads, creating a massive maintenance headache. But coal trucks also pay a significant tax per ton to help pay for the maintenance. If that fee is insufficient, the solution isn’t rejecting the power plant but increasing the tonnage fee.
(3) Respiratory disease. Critics cite American Electric Power Co.’s nearby Carbo power plant as an example of the impact the Dominion facility would have on local air quality. But Carbo is 50 years old; Dominion would use much more advanced cleaning technology. I don’t profess to know whether the Dominion facility would worsen local air quality or not, but I’m quite certain the impact will be minimal compared to AEP’s Carbo facility. If clean-air standards are not met, Dominion will not obtain — nor should it deserve — a permit from the State Air Pollution Control Board.
(4) Conservation and renewable energy. Instead of building a coal-fired power plant that emits C02 and contributes to global warming, environmentalists argue, Dominion should invest in conservation and renewable energy. I can’t think of any blog or print publication in Virginia that has espoused the virtues of conservation and renewable as aggressively as Bacon’s Rebellion. But I’m realistic enough to know that conservation/renewable can’t meet all of Virginia’s energy needs at an acceptable cost over the next decade or two. The conservation/renewable technologies and business models simply aren’t mature enough. We have no choice but to supplement conservation and renewables with some old-fashioned electric power capacity.
Meanwhile, opponents overlook a major environmental positive. The Dominion plant would use a technology that could burn waste coal found in the “gob piles” that litter the coalfield counties. These piles of coal dust and pulverized rock, which is refuse of mining that often took place decades ago, leach acidic water into local creeks and rivers. By recycling gob piles, the new plant would help address one of the region’s worst environmental problems.
Here’s my beef with the environmentalists. They don’t like coal. They oppose uranium mining in Southside. They want to block natural gas production off the Virginia coast. But what happens when entrepreneurs tried to build a wind farm in Highland County — a truly “green” energy source? Environmentalists tried to thwart it on the grounds that it would kill too many birds and bats! Some environmentalists seem to be against everything. (I recognize that the “environmental” movement is highly diverse, and that not all environmentalists oppose all new energy sources. My criticism applies to the extremists who have nothing constructive to offer.)
I’m not yet persuaded that Dominion’s Wise County power plant is good for Virginia. By the time all legitimate environmental issues are addressed, it may be so darned expensive that it can’t be justified. But I’m not terribly impressed with the environmentalists’ case against the plant to date.
(Photo credit of Carbo power plant: Camille Galuszka.)
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