Dominion's Proposed Power Station Wins More Support from Southwest Virginia
Dozens sign up to speak in favor of project at public hearing tonight
Scott County Board of Supervisors passes resolution
Kingsport, Bluefield newspapers endorse power station
RICHMOND, Va. – Dozens of people - including state and
local elected officials, business owners and other citizens - signed up Tuesday night to speak in favor of Dominion's proposed Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center
at a public hearing held by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
Many more supporters attended the hearing in Henrico County but did not sign
up to speak.
The show of support follows an outpouring of hundreds of project
backers who came to two days of public hearings that the department held last
week in the town of St. Paul, not far from the site selected for the 585-megawatt
clean-coal power station in Wise County. More than 2,000 have signed petitions
in support of the station.
During the last week, additional endorsements have come from
a Southwest Virginia county and two regional newspapers.
The Scott County Board of Supervisors joined Wise County,
Tazewell County and St. Paul in endorsing the station. In its resolution, the
Scott County board lauded the fact the station “will be coal-fired with
up to 20 percent biomass and will help clean up waste coal piles in Southwest
Virginia, thereby improving water quality.”
In its editorial endorsing the project, the Kingsport, Tenn.,
Times-News said: “Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center
represents not only a potential boon to the region’s economy but a necessary
and responsible step in meeting energy demand.”
The Bluefield Daily Telegraph wrote: “We can not advise
against building a plant that will provide jobs, feed families and provide a
much-needed economic boost in a region that has struggled through many hard
times.”
Dominion has proposed a circulating fluidized bed technology
for the station that will be able to burn a variety of fuels, including biomass
and waste coal, or gob. The millions of tons of gob in the region can leach
acidic and other harmful compounds that pose a risk to numerous waterways.
The station will have the latest in emissions controls and
will meet or do better than standards required by all state and federal regulations
designed to protect human health and the environment. The Virginia Department
of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Forest Service said in mid-December that
Dominion’s air emissions plans would protect sensitive environmental areas.
Dominion made its proposal in a Feb. 1 letter to David K.
Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
During construction, the station would provide nearly 1,000
jobs. Once it begins operating in 2012 it will employ more than 75 people and
will create about 350 mining jobs. A Virginia Tech economic impact study said
the station will generate about $4.4 million a year in tax revenues and other
benefits for Wise County.
Dominion is one
of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of approximately
26,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion serves retail
energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the
company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.
