Power plant emissions

may spark interstate

regulatory battle
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Environmental groups and the U.S. Forest Service are combining their voices in concern over emissions from a proposed coal-fired power plant in Virginia.

Marisue Hilliard, forest supervisor for North Carolina’s national forests, delivered a letter about the proposed plant to Virginia air quality officials this week, saying the proposed plant would violate standards of the Clean Air Act.

Hilliard said the forest service encouraged Dominion to explore ways to cut emissions and install better pollution controls. Hilliard said burning coal with lower sulfur content would also reduce emissions.

“Based upon review of the material we have received, our preliminary determination is that sulfur dioxide emissions from the proposed Virginia City Hybrid Center may cause adverse impacts to the visibility and flora Air Quality Related Values at Linville Gorge Wilderness,” she wrote in a letter to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Terry Seyden, public information officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said the letter was part of a routine process that occurs anytime power plants are proposed that might have an impact on federally protected land, particularly Class I natural sites, such as the Linville Gorge.

“We comment on the potential impact and provide that information to the state, which has the authority to issue air permits,” Seyden said.

Seyden said Dominion officials and Virginia air quality staff had already discussed possible modifications to the current plan. As proposed, the plant would release 3,300 tons of sulfur dioxide every year, a compound which has been linked to acid rain. It would also emit 5.3 million tons annually of carbon dioxide, which has been implicated as a greenhouse gas that some studies link to global warming.

Matt Wasson, executive director of Boone-based Appalachian Voices, said a number of agencies had taken interest in the proposed plant and welcomed having the U.S. Forest Service as apparent allies.

“We’ve been fighting it tooth and nail and working with a local group in Virginia,” Wasson said. “In some ways, this (letter) took us by surprise, but the forest service is looking out for their special areas. This is the most impressive federal assessment of a power plant that I’ve ever seen.”

The proposed site is north of Abingdon, Va., and a company press release announcing the site selection in May 2006 said it would utilize Virginia-mined coal and a “circulating fluidized bed” process the company said was a “clean-coal technology.” The plant would generate up to 600 megawatts of power and also utilize wood waste, biomass and diesel fuel as energy sources.

The forest service assessment said the proposed emissions would exceed standards outlined in the 1977 Clean Air Act. Emissions could also affect visibility, as the assessment notes “visibility impacts from the new source will continue into the future” and would undermine established clean-air goals in Linville Gorge by 2064.

“Now is the time to design the facility so it does not cause an adverse impact to visibility because the cost of additional air pollution controls between 2018 and 2064 may be deemed too expensive,” the assessment said.

Emissions could also damage flora and water by depleting calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Wasson said pollution and visibility were already taking their toll on the area’s scenic and natural resources, and another blow might be devastating.

“The Linville Gorge can’t afford a lot more acid rain,” Wasson said. “We all know the visibility from the Blue Ridge Parkway is diminishing. This plant is 40 miles from the border, directly northwest, and puts the gorge right in the line of fire.”

According to the forest service assessment, Linville Gorge is the closest Class I federally protected area to the plant, 70 miles away. The other four are more than 100 miles away and cover three different states.

Dominion is one of the largest regional energy producers in the country, generating about 26,500 megawatts of energy, and has 7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline.

Dominion also operates the nation’s largest underground natural gas storage system with about 950 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states.

The plant will cost an estimated $1.6 billion and has an anticipated start-up date of 2012. Dominion officials and politicians supporting the plant have said it’s needed because of the surge in electricity demand for the region.

Seyden said since the hearing process was still in the preliminary stages, Dominion could modify its plans, and the forest service could then issue comments on those modifications. The plant still faces several more years of hearings and permits before construction begins.

Dominion spokesperson Dan Genest confirmed that the power company was meeting with forest service officials and trying to resolve the concerns. “They’re a stakeholder and we’re interested in working with them,” Genest said.

He said the next public hearing will probably be in January after Virginia presents a draft copy of the proposed air permit for review.

The company will also have a hearing in January with the State Corporation Commission, whose approval is also needed. Genest said the company expects to have the air permit approved by April.