SCC analysis – Power Plant will eliminate 1476 jobs

According to recently uncovered testimony by staff at the State Corporation Commission, the Wise County Power Plant could actually eliminate 1474 Virginia jobs and have a significant negative economic impact on the rest of the state.

“This implies that for each dollar of revenue requirement collected through Rider S will have a -$1.36 impact on economic activity elsewhere in the state economic activity elsewhere in the state. The analysis also reveals a negative impact on employment of -1476 jobs.“

Because of the huge profit Dominion will make from this plant (12.12%), money will be removed from the Virginia economy, instead being transferred to Dominion’s shareholders, who received almost 40 cents per share dividend last quarter. Quite a good deal for the shareholders. We pay for our electricity, lose jobs, and they reap the profits.

Last year Governor Kaine dispatched Secretary of Commerce and Trade Patrick Gottschalk to testify before teh SCC, urging them to support the plant and emphasizing that the plant “has the full support of myself and the Governor”. Will this new evidence change his mind?

Despite an agreement with the Attorney General and the SCC staff that the plant will NOT be carbon capture compatible, Dominion struck a deal to maintain the higher 12.12% profit on the $1.8 billion power plant.

UPDATE: No New Coal Resolution in Richmond

The City Council of Richmond is officially the first and only locality to kill a resolution against the Wise County coal plant. Why? Because City Council President Bill Pantele didn’t like it. In fact, Mr. Pantele went out of his way to kill this resolution.

The resolution was originally scheduled for a full council committee hearing at the beginning of February but it was postponed at the very last minute by, you guessed it, Mr. Pantele. The decision was so last minute that not even the sponsors of the resolution knew that it had been removed from the agenda until walking into the meeting. Pantele told me himself that everyone on council had been getting “a lot” of phone calls from constituents on this. Apparently the wishes of his constituents are irrelevant.

While we waited for the resolution to be rescheduled, Dominion representatives had time to meet with each member of City Council. Continue reading

A mini-update on GWSA in MD

I usually get to be pretty positive when blogging about how things are going with the MD Global Warming Solutions Act – after all, Governor O’Malley did recently publicly express his support for the bill, going so far as to ask Marylanders to rally with him to show the widespread support the bill has.

Then, I got to go to a hearing last Friday, and listen to certain members of the Environmental Matters Committee and the Economic Matters Committee (who shall remain unnamed) ask questions about global cooling, sunspots, and the possibility that global warming is really caused by a higher population of people breathing (yes, breathing).

Dominion Admits – "Clean Coal" plant not actually clean

Great post from TheGreenMiles. http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=13300

——————————–Dominion Comes Clean on Coal, Admits Carbon Capture Nowhere in Sight (+)

As recently as five weeks ago, Dominion was hyping carbon capture and storage in connection with its proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County. But in a new deal with the SCC, Dominion has finally admitted CCS is nothing more than pie in the sky:

Major provisions of the agreement include a reduction in the profit Dominion Virginia Power had wanted to earn on its investment in the plant and a settlement of the dispute concerning whether the plant can be considered capable of capturing greenhouse gas emissions.The proposed profit does not include a bonus credit that state law provides utilities for building cleaner-burning coal plants compatible with technology to capture carbon-dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is considered a greenhouse gas.

The agreement says the proposed plant falls under state and federal definitions for a clean-coal plant but adds that whether the plant is compatible with carbon-dioxide capture is “unresolved at this time.”

I’m glad Dominion has finally admitted the obvious: When it comes to global warming, there’s no such thing as clean cloal.

Dominion Swindles Virginia, Buys Governor

Why should Virginians we support a new coal plant in Wise County? For months, people like me have been standing on our soap boxes saying that the people of Virginia shouldn’t support this plant. We have said that coal is bad for global warming. We have said that coal is bad for our mountains. We have said that coal isn’t good for our health. We have said that coal isn’t good for our water.

But Dominion has not withdrawn their plans to build a new coal plant in Wise County, saying that the plant would be clean, economically beneficial, and cheap. Dominion lies. Let me quickly debunk these three myths.

Myth #1: Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (the official name of the Wise County plant) will bring jobs to Virginia and provide cheap, reliable energy for the State.
FACT: If the plant gets built, there will be a net loss of jobs in Virginia. Recent testimony for the State Corporation Commission reveals that the Wise County Plant would cost Virginia nearly 1,500 jobs and greatly diminish families disposable income through higher electricity rates. Is that really worth it for 75 permanent jobs in Wise County? [For comparison sake, for $1.8 billion we could pay 75 Wise residents $100,000 a year and give the county $6 million a year for the next 133 years — sounds like a better deal to me…]

Myth #2: Coal is the cheapest source of energy in Virginia.
FACT: Coal is a cheap source of energy, but it is also one of the most heavily subsidized energy sources in the state. Even with massive subsidies that are taken directly from taxpayers pocket and put into Dominion’s stockholders portfolios, the new Wise county plower plant would increase energy rates by up to $1,000 per household in Virginia. That is not cheap!

Myth #3: Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center would be clean and have minimal impacts on the environment
FACT: Dominion is not utilizing the best available technology for this plant. The Wise County plat would utilize Circulating Fluidized Bed Coal Technology (CFB), not Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology — IGCC is considered the most advanced coal technology and the one best suited to remove pollutants and CO2 from emissions. By utilizing this inferior technology, Dominion can burn cheap waste coal with low BTU value and high pollutant emissions.

So why do we even need to fight this plant? It is bad for rate payer, it is bad for the economy, and it is bad for the environment — who would support that? Governor Kaine and the Virginia General Assembly, that is who. Surely they must know something that we don’t, like we are just about to make great strides in carbon capture and sequestration or the price of this plant is going to drop or something… or maybe they just took millions of dollars from Dominion…

It just makes you wonder what Dominion is buying…

  • The fast track green light from the Governor and the General Assembly for a $1.8 billion power plant (of which, Dominion has asked for a guaranteed profit on the plant of about 14% which they would probably get…)

  • A general strangle hold on democracy in Virginia

We want our democracy back. We want a governor that leads, not one that flies to the Final Four on Dominion’s dollar. Contact the Governor today.

Virginians Vs. the Dominion of Coal

Video by Jay Tomlinson

People of Virginia rise up in a democratic fervor to oppose the coal-fired power plant proposed by Dominion Power. This plant would be extremely destructive to the local environment, not to mention the regional and international impacts that coal has because of its contribution to global warming.

Fairfax Board Drags Feet on Coal…

Live from the Fairfax County Government Building…

(11:40)I am reporting live today, listening in on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hearing, waiting for news on whether the Fairfax Board will submit comments for the Department of Environmental Quality on the impacts of a new coal plant in Wise County on the residents of Fairfax County.

This board meeting room is the biggest one I have ever been in, and I can’t wait to hear the good news that our Supervisors will deliver soon…

(12:35) Anthony Griffin, county executive, withdraws the motion without debate… something is going on here…

(3:00) So I have had some time to think about what happened at the Board meeting today (and a little time to cool down), and I will give it to you straight here — something is going on here. The Board has been in some way contacted by Dominion power or one of their henchmen (that includes our General Assembly Members) and convinced the Fairfax county board that commenting for the DEQ on this power plant would not be a good idea. This stinks of insider politics. Why does it stink?

  1. The agenda item regarding submitting comments for the DEQ was immediately withdrawn without debate. We contacted enough Board members, we had the names of six board members that already supported the comments, and we had the critical commentary that the Chairman had already submitted for the DEQ in hand — we had enough votes to pass this board matter last week, why was it not even talked about on Monday?

  2. None of our strongest advocates said anything when the Board matter was being withdrawn — Chairman Connolly, Supervisor Smyth, and Supervisor Hyland said nothing — that makes me think that somebody was silencing them…

  3. Dominion has enough money and influence in this state to pull strings when they need to, it doesn’t seem unlikely that they would feel compelled to meddle in Fairfax county business…

So that is it. Now we must regroup and stay on top of our Supervisors and let them know that the issue of a new coal plant in Wise County and the impacts that it will have on our air are too great to ignore. Contact paul@chesapeakeclimate.org to help fight Dominion power in Fairfax county.