Remarks of
Pamela F. Faggert
Vice President & Chief Environmental Officer, Dominion
at the
U.S. EPA News Conference, Falls Church, Va.
May 21, 2003
Good afternoon. My name is Pam Faggert. I'm here
representing Dominion, one of the largest producers of energy in the United
States.
It's great to see so many students at this news
conference. I'm sure if you had your way, you'd be outside on this nice spring
day… instead of listening to a bunch of boring adults, wouldn't you?
Hey, I've got two kids. And believe it or not,
I was your age - once upon a time. At least there won't be a pop quiz at the
end of the news conference.
And we really are here for an important reason.
As strange as it may seem, it has something to do with being able to enjoy clean
air and the out-of-doors.
A healthy environment is important - very important.
That's why I'm here … why Christine Whitman and other officials are here
from the Environmental Protection Agency… why you see these reporters and
TV cameras here.
Big energy companies like Dominion produce the
electricity that heat your homes… run your PlayStations… and operate
your televisions, among other things.
Basically, we are the engine that drives the
American economy and helps improve the standard of living that you enjoy.
Like everything else, there are costs involved
in producing those economic benefits - and some of them are environmental costs.
Companies like mine that produce and sell energy inevitably have an impact on
the natural world.
My job as Dominion's chief environmental officer
is to make sure we do our job by following all state and federal laws governing
environmental quality.
The agreement that Dominion has signed with the
Environmental Protection Agency is one very important step we are taking to
improve the quality of the air we all breathe.
In a nutshell, Dominion will spend more than
one billion dollars to reduce the emissions from eight of our power stations
in Virginia and West Virginia.
These power stations burn coal to produce electricity.
We will install equipment on some of these stations to remove sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen oxide from their emissions.
Nitrogen oxides, for example, are substances
that react with sunlight on hot summer days to form ground level ozone - also
known as "smog."
The burning of coal in power stations is only
one way that nitrogen oxide is created. It also comes from school buses and
the cars and trucks we all drive.
In fact, here in Virginia alone, automobiles,
trucks and buses create more than 200 million tons of nitrogen oxide each year.
That's more than double the amount produced by
Dominion's coal stations.
As part of our agreement with the Environmental
Protection Agency, Dominion will provide funds to help reduce the pollutants
created by school buses - about 2.5 million dollars in the state of Virginia.
About one million dollars of that will be spent
right here in Fairfax County on the buses that pick many of you up in the morning
and drop you off in the afternoon.
These improvements to our power stations and
vehicles will do a lot to help clean the air. But you can help, too.
If we can find ways to reduce our energy needs,
we can reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide in the air, too.
As I've already said, cars, trucks and buses
are the single biggest source of nitrogen oxide emissions in Virginia.
I'm not crazy enough to stand here and tell a
school full of teenagers -- and responsible drivers I'm sure - to park your
cars and walk where you need to go. I know that's not going to happen. I've
got teenagers of my own, after all.
What I am going to ask you to do is drive smart.
Use your head - and less gasoline.
Combine trips whenever you can. For example,
if you're going to a school event, give a friend a ride or ride with a friend.
Use the Metro system when you go into Washington. Ask you parents to drive smart,
too. We are all responsible for the quality of our environment. And we can all
make a difference if we just try.
When you're at home, turn off the lights and
the stereo system when you leave a room.
And here's the mom in me coming out: don't open
the refrigerator door and stand there gazing at the contents for 5 minutes.
I'll guarantee you won't do that when you start paying the electric bill.
The point is, all of the things I mentioned take
energy. If we're aware of the impact we're having on our environment, there
are some pretty simple things we can do to manage our energy use.
If you like to use the Internet, try going to
Dominion's web site at "dom.com." There are lots more tips there on
how to use energy wisely.
To sum up, I'm very pleased that Dominion was
able to work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, the state of
Virginia, and other government agencies to produce this significant agreement.
It's going to make an important contribution to the environment where we all
live, work and play.
As I said earlier, environmental quality is everyone's
business.
