A new coal-burning power plant could bring money and needed much-jobs to rural Virginia. But environmentalists want to block the project. Who’s right?

Appalachian Virgina, one of the most impoverished areas in the United States, is about to receive a power plant that would bring $5 Million annually and $300 Million overall, but environmentalists are lining up to derail the project.  It’s been endorsed by every politician of consequence, including Democratic Governor Tim Kaine and Senator Jim Webb, both of whom are mentioned as potential running mates for Barack Obama as he peruses their state in the fall.

Dominion Virginia Power’s 1.8 billion proposal in St. Paul, Virginia, has managed to woo the powers-that-be with the promise of economic development in an areas that’s spiraled progressively downward as coal companies have cut jobs.  While the average miner makes $68,000 a year, there are less miners every year as the process becomes increasingly automated and searches for coal in more areas not easily accessible to men–think 18-inch seams.

How Will This Affect The Rest Of The State?

That’s the crux of the issue–while the rural area surrounding St. Paul only has about 40,000 residents, they stand to benefit significantly, and are far behind the economic development of the rest of the commonwealth.  Not surprisingly, they overwhelmingly support the project, and are expected to turn out over 1,000 supporters at a hearing on air quality that is the last major hurdle to construction.

The rest of Virginia is faced with a less attractive package:  while power will be generated there that will power the rest of the state cheaply and efficiently, and while burning only Virginia coal, the carbon dioxide, water quality, mercury contamination, and the ethics of continued use of fossil fuels in an age where the environmental viability of them has become depressingly clear.  It’s these concerns that have seen the Southern Environmental Law Center and Sierra Club, among others, launch the Wise Energy for Virginia Campaign.

Does This Campaign Stand A Chance In Hell?

Probably not. Despite Dr. James Hansen telling Congress that we need an immediate moratorium on coal fired power plants, that’s doubly unlikely in an election year.  Nevertheless, the campaign has done some impressive work–they delivered over 40,000 signatures opposing the plant on a mile-long scroll to Dominion shareholders at their annual meeting in Chicago.  It’s also not exactly a hard sell these days to tell the public that the levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere need to come down, and that they’ll live to see the consequences–a fear that Dominion’s promise of scrubbers doesn’t exactly do much to assuage, as clean coal technology is at least 30 years from achieving maturity.

More Reading:

Power Plant Is Ground Zero in Battle of energy Vs Environment (HamptonRoads.com)

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