Virginia Citizens Voice Concerns About the Proposed Dominion Coal Fired Plant
By: Josh Tulkin and Mike McCoy
Excerpted from an article written by Josh Tulkin (CCAN) and Mike McCoy (Appalachian Voices) December 10th in St. Paul, VA -- ground zero for Dominion Virginia Power's proposed Wise County coal plant -- over 100 citizens raised their voices to question members of the Department of Environmental Quality. Residents raised a variety of concerns. The hearing was organized for DEQ to get input on their 'draft permit.' Well, input they got. And a lot of it!
The meeting started with a short technical presentation from the head of DEQ for SW Virginia. In essence, he explained how DEQ felt that the plant was going to be "clean coal" and that it met all requirements. Honestly, it was pretty boring, and everyone was eager for the Q&A.
Kathy Selvage from the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards kicked off the Q&A by asking about mercury.
How much mercury will the plant emit? Just over 70 pounds a year, but don't worry, its all "within regulation".
But don't 1 in 6 women of childbearing age have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood? "Don't worry, it's within regulation."
Kathy pointed out that just 1/70th of a teaspoon can contaminate a 25 acre lake. "We're doing the best we can"
A minister from a neighboring community grew quite emotional when he asked why they chose to build the power plant less than a mile from the local elementary school.
While the DEQ had plenty of specific answers when it came to the amount of pollutants the power plant would emit, they maintained that they could not comment on the effects they might have. According to EPA data, the CARBO coal-fired power plant, also located in St. Paul, is responsible for 59 premature deaths each year. How many will occur from the proposed plant? DEQ couldn't say. Will it lead to more mountaintop removal coal mining? More smog? DEQ couldn't say.
THE COUNTER-BRIEFING
Before the DEQ briefing, Matt Wasson of Appalachian Voices held a "community briefing" to give citizens a chance to hear another side of the story. Wasson's presentation showed that Wise County is the second most heavily strip mined county in all of Appalachia with 25% of the land being destroyed. It showed that unemployment, poverty, suicide rates, and the number of disabled citizens all correlate directly with mountaintop removal mining. Those who came and saw the presentation wanted more to do, and some were ready to come to the SCC hearing in Richmond on January 8th.
Sign the petition against the proposed power plant at www.samsva.org.