Direct Testimony of Thomas M. Hildebrand - Consumer Advocate ...

A proposed Wise County, Va., 'clean coal' power plant could be among
Virginia's Top I O polluters
httn:~~~~f~~.tricities. corn/tristafe/tri!news. Pri ntView .-content-a rticles-TR f -2007- 10-21 -0025, htm I
Sunday, Oct 21,2007 - 02:OO AM
By Rex Bowman, Media General News Setvice
A $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant proposed for Wise County is touted by the
utility company that wants to build it as an eco-friendly "clean coal" model of
environmental design.
But if built to the company's specifications, it would be one of the biggest air
polluters in Virginia, according to documents filed with the state.
The plant would give Dominion Virginia Power an extra 585 megawatts of power.
enough to support 146,000 new homes.
The proposed Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center would be allowed to pump
more than 12,500 tons - or 25 million pounds - of pollution into the air each year
if Dominion Virginia Power goes through with its plans. The pollutants include
nitrogen oxides, an ingredient of smog; sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain:
and carbon monoxide, which can pose serious breathing problems for those with
respiratory ailments.
The emissions are in addition to the 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide the plant
could discharge annually, according to company officials. Carbon dioxide, though
recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a greenhouse gas,
is not regulated as a pollutant.
Dominion Virginia Power points out, however, that the Wise facility would pollute
less than do older plants. The utility is allowed to call the power plant a "clean
coal" operation under rules laid down by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is
encouraging utilities to use certain coal technologies by giving the technologies
the envi ronmen ta 1 I y-friendly sticker.
But environmentalists fighting to stop state approval of the power plant say the
"clean coal" label, though sanctioned by the federal government, is a deceptive
marketing practice that could dampen opposition to the plant even though its
construction could spell disaster for the ecosystem of Appalachian Virginia,
If approved by the State Corporation Commission, the plant would join other
coal-fired power plants at the top of the list of roughly 2,000 polluters monitored
by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
"Any time the utility industry adopts a really effective messaging strategy, it
makes our lives more difficult," said Matt Wasson of Appalachian Voices, one of
several groups opposing the power plant. "The label of clean coal is, in my