A letter to the editor in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch from the Wise County Chamber of Commerce said it all. Questions about carbon emissions, air quality, and Dominion Virginia Power's impact on the Wise area environment from their new coal-powered plant have been properly answered. The new power plant will not only provide for the energy needs of the area but also provide for the financial needs of the local economy.
Dominion Virginia Power has applied, complied, and been licensed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the Virginia Air Board, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
While Dominion Power has worked to provide clean energy to fuel homes and businesses, radical environmentalists have continued with their negative 1960s "no we can't" attitude while avoiding how they would provide power for the future. They need to get their heads out of the sand and realize that energy companies have moved ahead with 21st century technology while many environmentalists have remained "stuck in the future," 1960s style with threats of constant lawsuits to shut down the project.
As the Chamber of Commerce wrote:
Efforts to delay the project could result in energy shortages in the commonwealth in the future and lead to an increase in construction costs."Here's hoping the envionmentalists will mind their own business and leave Wise County alone ... but I'm not betting on it.
2 comments:
It seems as though you have been mislead. This plant is far from the best option. Energy efficiency technology that has been used in places like California, Austin Texas, Vermont, North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina etc. could help us meet our energy needs without building another power plant in Virginia. State Corporation Commission staff has said that energy efficiency alone, not conservation, not behavioral changes, not windmills, but JUST energy efficiency policies and technology that other states have been using for years could negate the need for any new power plants, provide more jobs than the Wise County plant (including the mining jobs) and cost only a fifth of the price. According to the US Department of Energy, Virginia is last in the country. We have the most inefficient state in the union, and the most backward energy policy that invests in the most polluting most expensive option that provides the least amount of jobs to offer. But of course our state policies are set up so thats the best financial decision for Dominion.
The Wise County Coal Plant is costing five times as much as what much of the rest of the nation is doing to curtail their energy demand, and not providing nearly the employment. And you and I are paying for this boondoggle. So please, if your pro-climate change and pro-mountaintop removal, thats fine, just don't say that environmentalists have a "no we can't" attitude about meeting energy demands. If you look at any modern literature about how to meet our demands they are extremely hopeful that we CAN meet these demands without further contributing to global warming and mountaintop removal. Even more than hope, we use math too! (You should try using math in relation to energy efficiency Vs. Coal power) Just check out pickensplan.com as a great place to start when considering what we can do, and imagine if we enacted his plan AND efficiency.
This power plant is the worst financial decision we could make as a state. Virginia SCC staff concluded the rate hikes the plant will necessitate will cause over 1,500 jobs lost in the state, while the power plant will produce a meager 75.
On your last point, you say you hope environmentalists will leave Wise County alone. Well, I don't know who you have been talking to but the 'environmentalists' are also made up of mining inspectors, bank tellers, retired coal miners, local teachers, local pastors and high school students, all from Wise County or the surrounding counties. They asked others to come in and help because their livelihood is being destroyed through mountaintop removal and the installment of another dirty power plant.
-Mike
"Another dirty power plant?" That's a tired line.
All you have provided are more talking points for environmentalists and anti-energy protesters who have no real answers but want to deny everyone else the benefits of energy.
Those I know in the Wise County area want this power plant. They have lived there all their lives.
Who are you referring to? The anti-plant people I have heard from are not originally from the area.
All your tired old arguments are just that ... tired old arguments that I have heard since the 1960s.
We have cleaner, more efficient energy now than we did then. These large corporations are doing a service for Americans while earning a buck or two for themselves. That's capitalism, and it sure beats socialism and communism.
You have not convinced me. Meanwhile, you can't even ride a bicycle because the tires take oil to make. How do your propose getting along in this world without the renewable resource of oil and coal?
Thanks for stopping by but I stand by my post.
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