Join us on the Wise Energy Tour at a Stop Near You!!

Virginia, like the nation, is at a critical juncture. The economy is declining and the climate is warming with potentially catastrophic consequences. Right now, Virginia has an enormous opportunity to secure a clean energy future that will reinvigorate the economy and curb emissions of harmful greenhouse gases.

Will you join us in seizing this enormous opportunity?

We know we can count on you to speak up in order to save our mountains, address climate change, protect consumers and build a clean energy economy, we need to talk to our decision makers. Meeting with your legislator is one of the best ways to make your voice heard. Join us as we take our message of a clean energy economy to the Virginia legislature. Together we’ve come so far and we will not secure a clean energy future for Virginia without your help!

What is the Tour about?

The Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition is launching the Wise Energy Tour to meet with engaged citizens across Virginia. We aim to help equip them with the tools they need to address their elected officials about clean energy and how Virginia can work towards a clean energy economy. We will be on the Tour from September to November reaching out to all areas in Virginia.

Join us for a stop on the tour to:

* Learn the current state of VA’s energy policy and what we can do to ensure a clean energy future

*Celebrate how far we’ve come (more than 43,000 people like you have added their voice to the Mile Long Petition)

*Become confident in communicating and building relationships with our elected officials

*Join in the community of citizens who are working to make this clean energy future for VA a reality

Northern Virginia Dates and Locations

All trainings will be from 7:00-8:30 PM

Monday, September 8th
Oakton Library
10304 Lynnhaven Place
Oakton, VA 22124
RSVP HERE

Tuesday, September 9th
Lovettsville Library
12 North Light Street
Lovettsville, VA 20180
RSVP HERE

Wednesday, September 10th
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish
3304 Washington Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
RSVP HERE

Tuesday September 16th
Reston Regional Library
11925 Bowman Towne Drive
Reston, VA 20190
RSVP HERE

Wednesday September 17th
The Old Presbyterian Meeting House
323 South Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
RSVP HERE

Thursday, September 18th
Fredericksburg United Methodist
308 Hanover Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
RSVP HERE

Want to help out with the trainings?

If you would like to assist the tour team in your area please let us know! Call Kayti WIngfield at 703.485.6498 or Mike McCoy at 434.293.6373 or mike@appvoices.org.

An End to Mountaintop Removal?

This weeks news really can’t be beat. As a recap we have a strong accusation from a Wise County resident, an engineer named John Jones who builds power plants, that members of the Wise County government reek of scandal in their dealings with Dominion. Then we have a Bristol Herald Courier article titled, “An End to Mountaintop Removal?” about how some experts think we have a good chance of stopping mountaintop removal and in that article the coal witch of Southwestern Virginia, Barbara Altizer, says that stopping mountaintop removal in Virginia would be a catastrophe. Funny, seems to me that the devaluing of property, destroying of areas used for fun and play, leveling the mountains that provide millions in tourism and making our streams run orange with acid mining waste or causing streams to dry up altogether is a catastrophe. Seems like the loss of mining jobs in a heavily impoverished area due to a switch from traditional mining the comparatively low labor practice of mountaintop removal is a catastrophe as well. Or maybe its just me

Most recently we have this Raising Kaine piece that announces Dominion’s plans to hold a reception for the Virginia Democrats in Colorado. And on top of it all, 50 activists from all around the southeast came together today in Richmond to hold a peaceful (but noisy) protest advocating more control over climate change and energy regulation. They specifically targeted Massey Energy, a company known for corruption, bad business ethics and mountaintop removal.  There is so much going on! 8/11/08

 Lets Make a Wave…

We’ve made a splash in Virginia, now lets make a wave

 

Mike Tidwell, director of CCAN, talks about our response to the approval of the Wise County Coal-Fired Power Plant

12 Virginians Arrested In Richmond after Blockading Dominion’s Headquarters

Richmond Times Dispatch calls the protesters the “Tredegar 12″

Early in the morning on June 30th, 20 activists got together to execute a carefully planned, non violent, blockade of Tredegar St. at the gate of the Dominion headquarters in protest of the proposed coal fired power plant that recently gained air permit approval, the last step necessary before construction can begin. 13 of the individuals have been arrested on various misdemeanor charges and bail has been set at $2,000 each. The groups responsible for the action are Blue Ridge Earth First! and Mountain Justice and are requesting financial help for posting bail and court costs which you can do here.

The protesters locked themselves into concrete filled barrels in order to block the road and shut down Dominion headquarters for over two hours, backing traffic up into downtown Richmond. Also Blue Ridge Earth First’s Marley Green repelled off of the footbridge above the protesters in order to provide additional support to those on the ground.

Protesters oppose the power plant largely because it will contribute to mountaintop removal coal mining. 25% of Wise County has already been leveled by strip mining for coal and over 1,200 miles of streams have been buried across Appalachia in the process. Blue Ridge Earth First! and Mountain Justice are also concerned with the air pollution, including 5.3 million tons of C02 annually, that the plant would produce. Here is the story in the Richmond Times Dispatch including a short video.

UPDATE: July 2nd Richmond Times Dispatch article reports that the prosecution will push for jail time. The Trial is set for July 29th.

Citizen Air Board Approves Air Permit for the Power Plant, Legal Action Already Underway.

The Citizen Air Boar approved the permit but not until the limits of pollution that the permit allowed for were significantly lowered. The Air Board required that instead of 72 pounds of mercury per year, Dominion could only emit 4 and a half, and only a third of the originally proposed Sulfur Dioxide would be allowed. Nevertheless the permit is still in violation of the clean air

act and the legal representation of the Wise Energy Coalition, has already taken legal action and will be challenging the permit in court. John Suttles, the Southern Environmental Law Center’s director of their Healthy Air Program had this to say

“Thanks to the hard work of many, many concerned citizens, and the diligence of the state Air Pollution Control Board, the permits approved yesterday are far better than what Dominion had originally proposed.

“Unfortunately, the permits fall short of full compliance with the Clean Air Act for carbon dioxide emissions and for mercury and other hazardous pollutants. When you run a marathon, it doesn’t make sense to stop just short of the finish line – but that’s what this permit does.

“Despite the vast improvements in these permits, they are still flawed, and illegal. We will be challenging them further in court.”
Click Here for the full story

“Webb Concerned About Dominion Rate Hike Request”

“The Virginia Democrat sent a letter Thursday to the State Corporation Commission regarding the proposal. If it’s approved, it would mean an increase of $16.61 for an average residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month to cover the $1.1 billion in anticipated fuel costs for the 12 months beginning July 1.

“In the letter to state regulators, Webb wrote that high electricity rates disproportionately affect low-income families. The average monthly bill would increase from $90.59 to $107.20 under the proposal.” -Daily Press

Click Here for the full article

Virginia Business Leaders: Proposed Wise County Coal-Fired Power Plant ‘Unwise,’ Bad For Business

Check out this article in Forbes. Excerpt:

Twenty business leaders across the state of Virginia released a statement today calling on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell to cancel plans to build a controversial coal-fired power plant in Wise County.

A joint letter from the group to Governor Kaine and the Dominion CEO noted: “The future of my business is dependent on a cleaner, greener and competitive economy in Virginia. Instead of investing in coal, we should be putting our money behind renewable energy projects and creating green jobs. The pollution, toxic waste and carbon emissions that accompany coal extraction and burning will make Virginia a less competitive economy.” -Forbes Magazine

The Mile Long Petition for Clean Energy -Delivered!

Our Wise Energy for Virginia coalition has delivered the Mile-Long Petition for Clean Energy in Virginia to Dominion’s Richmond headquarters! Many dedicated opponents of Dominion’s proposed coal plant were there for this exciting rally, and many more worked hard leading up to the event to collect petition signatures. 43,000 people - mainly Virginians - have signed the petition, and that number is growing as many continue to sign online.

A heart-felt thanks goes out to everyone who helped to make the petition a great showing of the strength and dedication of those fighting for our mountains, air, and climate in Virginia. Most importantly, by spreading the word to others - whether in your home or community online - you have also helped to build our large base of citizens taking action on this issue even bigger!

Click Here to watch this GREAT video of the event or to see pictures.

Autism Risk Linked to Distance from Power Plants

St. Paul’s k-12 public school is less than two miles from the construction site and nine miles from the Carbo coal fired power plant. Carbo is the second worst polluter in the state and is over 50 years old.

Science Daily, April 25th 2008 (Click for full article) “A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source.”

Citibank is Funding Wise County’s Plant -Ask Them to Stop!

Rainforest Action Network-”Citi, the leading funder of the coal industry, is backing the construction of a new $1.8 billion coal-fired powerplant in Wise County, Virginia. Instead of investing in renewable energy like wind and solar power, Citi is providing financing to Dominion Resources to build this new plant — which will emit more than 5.3 million tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of adding nearly one million new cars onto Virginia’s roads.”

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has set up a website where you can submit a letter asking Citibank to stop funding this power plant, please take a moment and participate by clicking here.

Why Oppose This Plant? -Check out the Facts Vs. Dominion’s Myths

Click here for the fully annotated .pdf, and here for a version without annotations (better for printing and hand out).

1. MYTH: The Wise County coal plant will be a clean facility
FACT: When first proposed, the plant was named the Southwest Virginia Power Station. Dominion’s marketing executives renamed the project the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center. But this is no Toyota Prius. Its deplorable environmental performance, outrageous cost, and massive global warming impact would make it the Hummer of coal-burning power plants. The State Corporation Commission (SCC) has determined that under Virginia law it is a “conventional coal” plant.1

2. MYTH: The coal plant will be carbon-capture compatible
FACT: During proceedings before the SCC, Dominion executives were asked if there were any specific technologies the company had invested in to capture global warming pollution. Dominion conceded, “We have taken a look at, in a general way, [technologies] for carbon capture. But, no, there is nothing specific we have decided on this facility.”2
Not surprisingly, in granting Dominion a certificate to build the plant, the SCC rejected Dominion’s request for a financial bonus for carbon-capture compatibility. Rather, the SCC was explicitly clear – of the $1.8 billion approved to build the plant, not one penny is earmarked to address the plant’s global warming pollution, either now or at any time in the future.3 [Learn more about carbon capture by clicking here]

3. MYTH: The Wise County coal plant will be “state-of-the-art”
FACT: Dominion is far behind the curve in addressing global warming. According to a report by MIT,4 only the most efficient coal plants (known as supercritical plants) will be ready to capture carbon. The proposed Wise County coal plant is not one of those – it would be an inefficient, subcritical coal plant. Dominion has no plan to capture the 5.4 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide the plant would emit every year.
Meanwhile, other electric utilities – even those heavily relying on coal – are working on technologies to capture carbon. AEP plans commercial operation of carbon capture equipment by 20125 (the same year Dominion wants to bring this conventional coal plant into service).

4. MYTH: The coal plant will be clean burning
FACT: The Wise County facility would emit more than four times the amount of mercury per-megawatt than Dominion’s Clover station in Halifax County, built more than a decade ago.6 Dominion has argued that mercury emissions may be higher because it plans to burn a small percentage of waste coal. But a coal plant in Seward, Pennsylvania run by Reliant Energy burns only waste coal and emits just 2% of the mercury that the Wise County coal plant would produce.7

5. MYTH: The Wise County coal plant will clean up southwest Virginia’s “gob” piles.
FACT: “Garbage of Bituminous,” or “gob” is the toxic waste coal left behind by the coal mining industry. Dominion has made no commitment to clean up “gob.” Instead, the fuel for the plant would likely be newly mined coal.8 As a result, the Dominion plant would only encourage mountaintop removal coal mining and other devastating practices. Where traditional mining practices cut mine shafts to access coal seams, mountaintop removal coal mining levels entire mountains and buries miles of streams in rubble. It literally obliterates the natural landscape.

6. MYTH: The Wise County coal plant will boost the economy.
FACT: While the coal plant would have 75 permanent employees,9 the hundreds of jobs Dominion promises would only be temporary construction jobs that would disappear once the plant is built. At the same time, the coal plant would accelerate mountaintop removal coal mining, a process that has done far more economic harm than good. Since 1980, Wise County has experienced a 28% decline in the average income and a 53.1% decline in mining jobs — despite an increase in coal production during the same timeframe.10
Mountain top removal coal mining also hurts the tourism industry in Wise County, which generates more than $32 million a year in expenditures, payroll, and state and local taxes. The Crooked Trail, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, draws more than 60,000 visitors to Appalachia and Southwestern Virginia each year.11 The USA Today reports, “From Dickenson County to Galax, rural areas that offer winding trails, bluegrass music and wine tastings have become some of the state’s fastest-growing attractions.”12 And more than 35,000 acres of the pristine Jefferson National Forest lie within Wise County, providing a “multitude of outdoor recreational opportunities: hiking, biking, swimming, canoeing, hunting, fishing, camping, boating ….”13

7. MYTH: Electricity rates for Dominion customers will only increase “nominally”14
FACT: The State Corporation Commission’s staff determined that rates would increase so much as to have a net negative impact on the Virginia economy, with a loss of 1,474 jobs.15 As “electricity rates increase,” the staff explained, consumers would have “less income to spend on other goods and services.” Less consumer spending hurts the economy, particularly small businesses. Dominion’s construction costs have increased $200 million since the SCC analysis was done, meaning even higher electricity rates and more job loss.

The SCC Says Dominion Coal Plant Won’t Capture Carbon

On July 13, 2007, Dominion Power applied to the State Corporation Commission for approval for a coal plant in Wise County that it promised would be “carbon capture compatible.” In a finding on March 31st, the State Corporation Commission approved construction of what it termed a ‘conventional coal’ facility. This confirms what opponents have been saying all along, that Dominion has no plan to capture the estimated 5.4 million tons of global warming pollution the plant would emit every year. The SCC stated “we make no finding herein as to whether the Coal Plant is “carbon capture compatible, clean coal powered.” Instead the SCC found that the plant qualifies at minimum, as a conventional coal plant.

The SCC also stated that “[W]e do not find that it is reasonable or prudent for the company to incur any amount of costs above the the cost estimates that comprise the projected level of $1.8 billion.” Meaning that if the cost of the plant rises above current levels, Dominion, instead of ratepayers will have to pay the difference. The SCC stated in an earlier finding that even a 1.8 billion dollar project would raise electricity rates enough to potentially cause the loss of nearly 1,500 jobs across the state due to those ratepayers having less money to spend on goods and services.

Attention now turns to the Air Permit, currently being reviewed by the Citizen Air Board, and to Governor Kaine who is set to appoint two new members that would have the power to weigh in. Please see this Bristol Herald Courier Article

“West Virginia Study Unearths Higher Health Risks in Coal Mining Communities”

April 2, 2008 Pittsburgh Post Gazette - “The study, ‘Relations between Health Indicators and Residential Proximity to Coal Mining in West Virginia,’ found that in the 14 counties where the biggest coal mining operations are located residents reported higher rates of cardiopulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, and lung and kidney disease.”

Currently, Virginia has six coal mining counties. They all report similarly higher levels of the diseases and poor health measures mentioned in this article compared to other SW Virginia counties without coal mining. Dominion’s proposed power plant is entirely unnecessary, yet would contribute to the amount of coal mining in the area. Full Article

Bird Dog the Gov!

Bird Dog: To scout out, and find. Citizens and activists from around the state have been making a point to be everywhere the Governor is, and to let him know that we want him to use his power to stop this proposed dirty coal plant. So far Virginians have held signs, asked questions and caused a ruckus in Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Fredricksburg, Richmond and Alexandria. In recent weeks, Kaine has hardly had a public appearance where he hasn’t heard someone asking him to take action.

Download the Bird Dog Packet to get tips and pointers on how to have an effective action!

Click Here to find out where he is going to be.

Press hit -Governor Still on Wrong Side

Check out this Associated Press story in March 8th’s Roanoke Times

Excerpts:

“Dominion Virginia Power lowered its profit expectation on a coal-fired power plant in southwest Virginia because of questions about whether it will be able to capture carbon dioxide emissions…As a result, Dominion will not be eligible for a bonus credit allowed by state law for plants compatible with carbon-capture technology. That will lower Dominion’s profit margin on its investment to 12.12 percent from the 13.75 percent it originally sought.”

“‘Dominion is absolutely failing to plan for federal laws on global warming that are just around the corner,’ Cale Jaffe, an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center, said Friday. ‘If Dominion does not build this plant to capture greenhouse gases, ratepayers will be left holding the bag.’”

Mike Tidwell, the Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, tells the story of our fight.

“The Market is Speaking and its Not Saying More Coal Plants”

-A Feb 24th Article about the fate of new Coal plants in America from the WV Charleston Gazette. Excerpt:

 

“By the end of 2007, plans for 59 coal-fired power plants across the country were cancelled or seriously delayed, in large part due to rapidly growing wariness among prospective investors. Just when King Coal was looking invincible, the big bucks began bailing.

Citing concern over the cost of future carbon regulations that are expected from Congress perhaps within the year, many of the banking industry’s heavy-hitters have begun seeking more economically secure ventures.”

 

Virginians Urge Governor Kaine to Love our Mountains and Oppose this Plant!

This Valentine’s day concerned Virginians and activists from the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition met with the Governor’s representative, Stephen Walz. Over 1,000 Valentines to the Governor, made by individuals from across the state, were delivered to the Governor, asking him to Love Our Mountains. The Wise County Power Plant would contribute to Mountain Top Removal Coal mining, which has already affected 29 mountains in southwest Virginia and the proposed coal plant would require more of this destructive form of strip mining. The Valentines carried such sentiments as, “I ? Mountains” and “Be a Hero, Stop the Wise County Power Plant.”

Click Here to see the Richmond Times Dispatch Article

Dominion Power’s Dirty Plans for Virginia

Mike Tidwell
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Washington Post

The following OpEd by CCAN director Mike Tidwell ran in the Outlook section of the Washington Post on Sunday, Jan. 27th

Fact: Virginia gets less than 1 percent of its electricity from “green” sources such as the wind or the sun. Fact: Virginia ranks 38th among U.S. states in energy efficiency. Fact: Climate change is real, and fossil fuel substitutes are needed, according to President Bush’s State of the Union address last year. So how would Dominion Virginia Power respond to these facts?

• Savagely blow up entire mountains in southwest Virginia.
• Feed the resulting exposed coal to a proposed power plant that is unnecessary and would cost ratepayers at least $1.8 billion.
• Create lots more greenhouse gases in the process.
• Doom the good people of southwest Virginia to living with a brutal extraction industry that has no future.

Whew! Talk about getting everything wrong.

Astonishingly, Gov. Tim Kaine supports Dominion Virginia Power’s controversial 585-megawatt coal plant proposed for Wise County. He supports this despite three more facts. First, a senior aide of the governor recently admitted that there’s “less than 10 years’ worth of commercially viable coal left in Virginia.” Second, more than 200 Virginians packed a hearing room this month in Richmond to denounce the proposal being considered by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Third, Kaine’s energy plan includes passages explicitly discouraging the development of “conventional” power (i.e., fossil fuels) until the state has maximized efficiency and clean-energy development.

Maximized?

Virginia has one of the most bloated, inefficient electricity loads in America. Per capita use is roughly twice as high as it is in California and New York. Just phasing out inefficient light bulbs, as Congress has mandated beginning in 2012, would eliminate electricity consumption in Virginia equal to half the entire output of the Wise County plant. And using money-saving “smart grid” systems — a technology that painlessly shuts off air conditioners for brief moments and invisibly manages other electricity use in homes — could save the electricity equivalent of two Wise County plants. So why are we building this facility?

Thankfully, there’s still time for Kaine and the legislature to kill this disastrous power plant idea and create, instead, a real and lasting energy prosperity for southwest Virginia and the rest of the state. Beyond efficiency, federal estimates show Virginia could get 12 percent of its electricity from wind farms using just a small area of land. Yet Dominion’s wind-power investments equal less than 0.5 percent of its total mid-Atlantic generation capacity. And the best the state government has done on efficiency is offer a four-day tax holiday to Virginians who buy efficient bulbs and appliances.

The Clean Energy Future Act, a bill now before the Virginia General Assembly, would correct these glaring deficiencies. It would follow the lead of dozens of other states in setting robust but realistic statutory targets in clean power, efficiency and “green jobs.”

Twenty five percent of the land area in beautiful Wise County, in the heart of Appalachia, has been destroyed by mountaintop removal and other mining in the past four decades. Let’s save the mountains still standing and embrace durable, sustainable industries there such as cultural tourism, outdoor recreation and wind farms. Let’s simultaneously retrain and support the coal miners who’d rather build solar panels and windmills anyway, if only they had a governor and legislature willing to stand up to Dominion and finally say stop!

– Mike Tidwell

Radio Ad the Wise Energy for Virginia coalition sponsored in SW Virginia:

Click HERE to listen to the other ads

Virginian’s

SCC hears a resounding NO from Virginians

Virginians show up in what may be record numbers to tell the State Corporation Commission how they feel about the power plant. Tuesday, January 8th was the SCC’s scheduled time to hear public comments, and they got an earful. The hearing lasted until 9:00 PM to accommodate all the speakers. About 20 residents from southwest Virginia made the six and a half hour trip to Richmond. In all about 300 people showed up at the event, overflowing he courtroom and filling the overflow room as well. Of those 177 signed up to speak, many had to leave before their names were called and 122 were actually sworn in and testified; 29 spoke in favor of the plant and 93 spoke against. Photo Courtesy of Appalshop

See Related Press:
Richmond Times Dispatch Article

Bristol Herald Courier Editorial

Excellent Radio Coverage

This is a home made video made by Matt Sutherland of Castlewood. He lives downwind of the Clinch River Power Plant (AKA Carbo). He will also live downwind of the proposed plant should it be built. His children attend the K-12 school within two miles of the plant site.

Bristol Herald Courier Staff Speak Out Against the Coal Plant

“Dominion Power plant is no Bargain for the region”

Excerpt: “Given the mounting evidence of potential harm to the environment and the health of the region’s residents, we cannot support this project any longer. Unless something changes drastically, this plant should not be built here.”

Read this milestone of an editorial by the largest newspaper in Southwest Virginia

Choking on the Politics of Coal

• Check out this Roanoke Time’s Editorial that came out Thursday, December 13th.

Wise County Citizens Speak Out

• Click here to listen to the radio coverage or download it as a Podcast.

Monday, in St. Paul, VA — ground zero for Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed Wise County coal plant — over 100 citizens raised their voices to question members of the Department of Environmental Quality. Residents raised a variety of concerns. The hearing was organized for DEQ to get input on their ‘draft permit.’ Well, input they got. And a lot of it!

The meeting started with a short technical presentation from the head of DEQ for SW Virginia. In essence, he explained how DEQ felt that the plant was going to be “clean coal” and that is met all requirements. Honestly, it was pretty boring, and everyone was eager for the Q&A.

Kathy Selvage from the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards kicked off the Q&A by asking about mercury.
How much mercury will the plant emit? Just over 70 pounds a year, but don’t worry, its all “within regulation”.
But don’t 1 in 6 women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood? Don’t worry, it’s within regulation.

Kathy pointed out that just 1/70^th of a teaspoon can contaminate a 25 acre lake. “We’re doing the best we can”

A minister from a neighboring community grew quite emotional when he asked why they chose to build the power plant less than a mile from the local elementary school. “Our modeling shows that all the of pollution will be at ‘protective limits’. They kept using this term ‘protective limits. Personally, I think NO POLLUTION is the most protective limit.

Tom Cormons from Appalachian Voices echoed concerns raised by the National Forest Service about the plants impact on Linville Gorge Wilderness in the Pisgah National Forest. People at the hearing ranged from high profile names like the local celebrity Frank Taylor who repeatedly asked about pollution levels and the cumulative effects of the multiple power plants upwind from St. Paul, to concerned parents who have children attending St. Paul schools (the schools are all less than a mile away from the construction site).

While the DEQ had plenty of specific answers when it came to the amount of pollutants the power plant would emit, they maintained that they could not comment on the effects they might have. According to EPA data, the CARBO coal-fired power plant, also located in St. Paul, is responsible for 59 premature deaths each year. How many will occur from the proposed plant? DEQ couldn’t say.

A resident who lives right off the main road asked about pollution from transportation. Dominion estimates that the plant will require six hundred diesel coal trucks a day to feed coal for the plant. Will it lead to more mountaintop removal coal mining? More smog? DEQ couldn’t say.In fact, the DEQ maintained throughout the question and answer period, that their realm of study only pertains to how the pollutants of this plant would relate to the legal limits of pollutants. Basically, the DEQ claims that it is beyond their ability to do anything about the plant’s potential This inability to give a straight answer on so many important issues seemed to only cause the local citizens to want to ask more, harder hitting questions. In the end, only two or three defenses of the coal industry were voiced by attendants. OUR COUNTER-BRIEFINGBefore the DEQ briefing, Matt Wasson of Appalachian Voices held a “community briefing” to give citizens a chance to hear another side of the story. Word of our presentation was spread through talking to folks who came to the earlier DEQ question and answer period, and through the efforts of Kayti Wingfield from Sierra Club and myself hitting the town, going from business to business to reach out the locals, and we were surprised to hear so many residents concerned about the power plant. About thirty people showed up to the basement of St Therese Catholic Church around the corner from the elementary school. As folks gathered and got settled, free pizza and soda in hand, it was obvious that these families were excited to learn more. Matt’s presentation used images of the existing power plant in Russell County, mountaintop removal in Wise, and Google earth imaging to paint the picture of exactly what the Coal industry has done and will continue to do to south west Virginia if allowed to continue with plans to build this power plant. It showed that Wise County is the second most heavily strip mined county in all of Appalachia with 25% of the land being destroyed. It showed that unemployment, poverty, suicide rates, and the number of disabled citizen’s all correlate directly with mountaintop removal mining. It showed that there is not much coal left in SW Virginia, and how this plant would require much more mountaintop removal. The picture of what will come should this power plant be built is clear, and is damn ugly. Those who came and saw the presentation wanted more to do, and some were ready to come to the SCC hearing in Richmond on January 8^th. WHAT’S NEXT?Despite our concerns, this process is moving forward. We need to stay active, tell our neighbors and friends, and get involved!.<!–[if !supportLists]–>
<!–[if !supportLists]–>1. <!–[endif]–>Volunteer to get more involved. It’s clear that we need to get more folks from Southwest Virginia to the hearing.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>2..<!–[endif]–>Please consider donating to the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, www.samsva.org. They are the leading voice in Wise County on this issue. But we’re not leaving them stranded. Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices, CCAN, stand in solidarity with SAMS.

 

Is THIS for Lovers?

 

Few Virginians realize that mountaintop removal coal mining has destroyed more mountains in Virginia’s coal counties than almost anywhere else in Appalachia. Click here to view a a slideshow on Flickr of mountaintop removal in Virginia.

Wise County Citizen’s Propose a ‘Mile Long Petition’ against proposed Power Plant

A coalition of citizens and conservation groups announced the Wise Energy for Virginia campaign at a press conference in Richmond, VA, on September 25th. The campaign is a major effort to to challenge

the building of Dominion’s proposed new coal-fired power plant in Wise County, Virginia, and to encourage Virginia to accelerate a shift to smart energy solutions including efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy.

The coalition launched the campaign just days after the New York Attorney General started an investigation of Dominion, questioning whether the company adequately disclosed investor risks associated with new coal-fired power plants. If built, Dominion’s proposed coal-fired power plant would worsen global warming, accelerate mountain-top removal coal mining, encourage the construction of new transmission lines, and further pollute
Virginia’s air, land, and water.

The campaign kick-off includes the start of an effort to collect signatures from citizens on a “mile-long petition” telling Dominion Resources that its proposed coal plant is not wanted or needed. The coalition plans to present the petition to Dominion executives at a Dominion shareholder’s meeting in 2008.

“We ask all Virginians who have concerns about Virginia’s forests, watersheds and mountains, all the damage done to our planet by the burning of fossil fuels, to join us in this effort,” said Kathy Selvage, Vice President of the Wise County-based Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), which was formed to protect the way of life in Southwest Virginia. In a symbolic gesture, Selvage signed the first entry line of the citizens’ petition at the press conference.

View a Google Map of the Proposed

 

Wise County Power Plant

Click here to learn more about the campaign to stop the Wise County Power Plant