How Few Jobs Will Wise Co. Coal Plant Create?

Dominion Virginia Power is spending $1.8 billion dollars worth of your electric bills to build a dirty coal-fired power plant in Wise County. How many jobs will that investment of our money deliver? Shockingly few, according to the Virginia Mining Association (PDF):

At the end of July, there were about 1,800 men and women employed in the construction of the 585-megawatt power station. The work force included about 600 people from the local area, accounting for 33.4 percent of total employment. The local area is defined as being within a 50-mile radius of the town of St. Paul, with Wise, Russell and Scott counties accounted for the majority of the local hires. Additionally, the staff that will operate the power station is being formed and trained. After Oct. 4 operations employment will stand at 34 with half of those hires coming from the local area.

Well hey, that's only $106 million of our money per permanent job for local residents. What a bargain!

Meanwhile, a Virginia State Corporation Commission analyst has testified (PDF) that, because the higher rates needed to pay for it, the plant will cost Virginia 1,474 jobs.

Now, apologists for this terrible deal will say, "But The Green Miles! They need every job they can get in Wise County!" By that rationale, why bother actually building the plant? As the Chesapeake Climate Action Network has pointed out, we could pay 75 Wise County residents $100,000 per year and give the county $6 million a year for the next 133 years with the $1.8 billion it will take to build the plant. And in that scenario, we wouldn't have to deal with the 5.4 million tons of carbon dioxide, thousands of tons of other air pollutants & dozens of pounds of mercury the plant will release.

All in all, a terrible deal for Virginia's economy & environment. 

Photo via Flickr's dmott9

We Can't Afford Clean Energy, We Spent All Our Money on Coal!

Life in coal country is hard. Jobs aren't easy to come by. People have been told for generations now that the only way they'll get by, the only way their very way of life can survive, is to hitch their wagons to Big Coal.

But coal's always been a losing bet. Maps of mountaintop removal overlap almost perfectly with poverty rates. In the face of that hard evidence, people in coal country who can start to sound like they're stuck in a dead-end relationship. No one else can ever love us but Big Coal! I know it's wrong, but it's all we have! And politicians of both parties have been convinced to look the other way by the coal money lining their pockets.

People trapped in dead-end relationships tend to rationalize it with statements that don't make any sense. Like this editorial from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph:

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the federal cap-and-trade legislation will eventually cost the average household an extra $175 per year. Sadly, folks in our region — who have been bombarded with one rate increase after another in recent years — simply can’t afford to pay another nickel, dime or penny for electricity.

How can we possibly afford to leave coal -- we're getting soaked by coal! It's like a friend saying, "I can't possibly afford a new car -- it takes every dollar I have to keep my clunker on the road!"

It's not clean energy that's a risky financial bet -- it's staying hooked on increasingly expensive coal-fired power. And here in Virginia, we know what a lousy partner coal can be. We felt the pinch of coal's rising rates three times in the last year:

• An 18% rate hike last year, primarily to cover higher coal costs
• An average fee of $1.84 per customer in January to pay for the new coal-fired power plant in Wise County
• A 6.1% hike in September to pay for the Wise County plant and new transmission lines to carry coal-fired power from the Midwest to East Coast cities

Look, Coal Country. We're not saying you didn't love Big Coal with all your heart. But maybe they're just not the ones for you.

In fact, maybe you can find someone better. A shift to clean energy would create millions more jobs than staying addicted to coal.

And admit it -- wouldn't it feel good to finally kick that no-good, dirty Big Coal to the curb?

Cross-posted from Blue Virginia

Why "Clean" Coal is Like Dragons and Leprechauns

For more on "clean" coal and its devastating impacts on Appalachia, check out this great op-ed from Jeff Biggers.

Get more details on Joe Biden's "clean" coal comments at FactCheck.org.

To see previous videos and subscribe to future ones, visit The Green Miles on YouTube.

Video: Protesting Dominion in Wise County

Here's a video from the Rainforest Action Network on yesterday's protest against Dominion in Wise County, Virginia:



In addition, check out the schedule for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Wise Energy Tour in Northern Virginia.

Suggested Theme Song for Gov. Kaine

Just finished writing up a post over at RK on the major coal plant ruling in Georgia. I should be happy that it dramatically increases the likelihood the planned Wise County coal-fired power plant will be blocked. The Wise County plant's permits allow for unlimited carbon dioxide emissions, which the Georgia judge ruled are a no-no under Massachusetts vs. EPA.

But it's a lose-lose-lose situation. Wise County doesn't get the jobs. Virginia's clean energy future remains murky. And we're no closer to global warming solutions.

As for Gov. Tim Kaine, a year ago, I hoped to convince him to change his mind on the Wise County plant. But he only dug in his heels deeper. That seems to be his style. He's a brawler. He doesn't want to be persuaded - he'll show you who's boss.

Now it looks like he'll go down with the ship on Wise County. And I can't be happy about that, either. As I got to the last paragraph of that RK post thinking about Kaine's legacy, Coldplay's Viva la Vida kept playing in my head. "I used to rule the world ..."

Opportunity Lost: Virginia Dems & the Wise Co. Power Plant

Virginia's Air Pollution Control Board last week approved Dominion's permit to build a coal-fired power plant in Wise County. You can read a first-hand account at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's blog. The Southern Environmental Law Center has vowed to continue the fight against the Wise County plant in court.

The biggest losers are Virginia consumers who will now have to pay high costs in both the short term and long run. In the short term, we'll be paying at least $1.8 billion to build the plant. And in the long term, we'll bear the burden of skyrocketing coal prices along with any national carbon pricing.

But the plant decision also represents a huge opportunity lost for Virginia's leading Democrats:

• Opportunity lost for Gov. Tim Kaine, a relentless cheerleader for Dominion and coal who has seen his national standing tarnished and his statewide approval rating drop to 46 percent. There are many factors to Kaine's plummeting popularity like the ongoing gridlock on transportation solutions and his signing of the estate tax repeal. But his have-it-both-ways environmental stance - talking tough but refusing to take a stand on coal - has managed to tick off everyone, angering both flat-Earth conservatives and climate activist liberals.
  
  
• Opportunity lost for U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner, who put forth a strong energy plan but passed on an opportunity to put his principles into action. Warner instead pandered on the power plant while in southwest Virginia, calling it the proposed plant "an economic engine for the whole region" even though the SCC has said the plant would result in a net loss statewide of 1,474 jobs. Is Warner a Kaine clone - saying one thing in Northern Virginia and another down south?
  
  
• Opportunity lost for gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran, who've chosen to stay completely silent on the most critical environmental issue our state has faced this year. Environmentalists fought hard to elect Tim Kaine, only to see him take environmental stances so soft they should be served in a mini-helmet covered in strawberry sauce and walnuts. Why should environmentalists bother fighting for either Deeds or Moran if they side with Dominion and coal over clean energy and climate action?

If Virginia Republicans were savvy, they could follow the models of Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), using environmental issues to win over moderate voters. But they're much too busy targeting immigrant families, trying to ban all abortions, and blocking funding for transportation solutions.

Secretive Kaine Air Pollution Control Board Letter Revealed

After days of mysterious reports and devastating condemnations, Gov. Kaine's full letter to Virginia Air Pollution Control Board members has finally hit the net.

As has been reported, it couldn't be more vaguely worded. Kaine writes that he wants to provide "clear direction on my expectations," yet never actually references Dominion's proposed 585-megawatt, $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant in Wise County. Kaine also never says what form of air pollution he's so concerned about. As for what prompted the letter, Kaine only makes a murky reference to "recent reports."

In fact, the letter really only makes one thing clear - board members should do as Kaine directs them. The governor uses some form of the word "direct" seven times in a ten-sentence letter.

Let's review the expected annual emissions from the proposed plant:

- 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide
- 4,132 tons of carbon monoxide
- 3,369 tons of sulfur dioxide
- 1,971 tons of nitrogen oxides
- 739 tons of particulate matter
- 139 tons of volatile organic compounds
- Up to 72 pounds of mercury

And we're supposed to believe this is "clean coal"? Right. As Cale Jaffe of the Southern Environmental Law Center said today, "If the issue is about enforcing the 'existing regulatory framework' as Gov. Kaine says, then this plant should not come close to getting permitted."

An Air Pollution Control Board hearing on the plant is set for next week in Wise Co. Learn more at CCAN's website.

Cross-posted from RK

Bristol Herald Courier: Kaine "Knee-Deep in the Muck"

UPDATE 4:40pm: Find the full text of the letter and more at RK.

Gov. Kaine has already sacrificed huge amounts of credibility to go to bat for Dominion Virginia Power, cheerleading unrestrained dependence on coal even in the face of proposed massive rate increases.

But today, the Bristol Herald Courier says Kaine has reached a new low:

For some months, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has carefully stayed out of the controversy surrounding Dominion Power Co.’s proposed coal-fired plant in Wise County.

No more. The governor is knee-deep in the muck – firing off an opaquely worded letter to the state Air Pollution Control Board that nudges the panel to give the plant its stamp of approval.

Kaine shrewdly avoids issuing a direct executive command, but the implications of his letter are clear. The five-member citizen panel had better not stand in Dominion’s way. [...]

Kaine drafted the letter to the board June 10. A day later, his communications director, Gordon Hickey, denied that such a letter existed. On Friday, Hickey said he didn’t learn of the letter until after he spoke with this newspaper. [...]

It seems likely that Kaine wanted to influence the Air Pollution Control Board in private while preserving his public persona as an environmental crusader. He cannot have it both ways without being judged guilty of blatant hypocrisy.

Check out more analysis of Kaine's letter from the former chair of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

Cross-posted from RK

Saturday: Tell Gov. Kaine No New Coal!

Just got this from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network:

Many of you have spent a lot of your time over the last few months fighting Dominion Power's controversial coal plant proposal for Wise County -- from gathering petition signatures to giving testimony for the SCC, you have done it all. The grassroots response to the notion that Virginians should pay $1.8 billion for 5.3 million tons of CO2, 49 pounds of mercury and more mountaintop removal coal mining has overwhelmed nearly everyone in this state, except for Governor Kaine.

The Governor still staunchly supports the Wise County Coal plant, and this Saturday at 1pm you have a chance to ask him why at a town hall meeting in Falls Church. Join dozens this Saturday to give the Governor a piece of your mind. Virginians want clean energy, not new coal!

What: Governor Kaine's Last Public Town Hall Meeting -- Free to attend, no RSVP needed
When: Saturday, April 12th, 1pm - 2:30pm
Where: Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Rd, Falls Church, VA

If you can make this event, please go and tell Gov. Kaine to reject new coal plants and instead invest in a clean energy future!

WP Article on Wise Coal Plant: Home Run on Politics, Strikeout on Science

The Washington Post has paid virtually no attention to Virginia's plans to build a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County. But finally on Sunday, reporter Tim Craig did a lengthy article on the proposal.

Craig proved why he's a political reporter for one of the nation's top newspapers. He nailed the politics of the issue, covering the damage Gov. Tim Kaine has suffered for his unwavering support of Dominion Virginia Power and the proposed plant. Well done.

But Craig also proved why he's covering politics, not science, absolutely butchering some basic environmental facts. Reading Craig's writing on global warming was like watching William Hung's rendition of She Bangs. Just brutal.

Since I can't look away from a good train wreck, let's review:

"[E]nvironmentalists are opposed to the project, saying that coal-fired plants are a leading cause of airborne pollution, which has been linked to global climate change."

The reference to "airborne pollution" was odd enough to be a red flag for me. It's not wrong, it's just an odd phrasing. Most people would just say "air pollution." If someone was writing about movies and referred to them as "moving pictures," it would make you tilt your head a little, no?

That sets up the absolutely incoherent statement that aforementioned airbornes "have been linked to global climate change." It's a gross oversimplification to say global warming is caused by air pollution, akin to saying food has been linked to obesity. And what's "linked"?

Man-made carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming. Simple. Easy. Say it that way.

The plant "would use updated scrubbing technology to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, a big source of acid rain."

In an amazing feat, Craig manages to fit four distinct errors and omissions in a 17-word stretch:

1. Carbon dioxide emissions are not a major cause of acid rain. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are two of the prime causes.
2. The plant would not limit carbon dioxide emissions, spewing at least 5.3 million tons into the air
3. The plant would not use "scrubbers" at all, which is a specific type of pollution-reduction technology. The plant would use a Circulated Fluidized Bed (CFB) to reduce emissions.
4. Even with the CFB, the plant would still emit 3,300 tons of sulfur dioxide per year, enough to trigger objections from neighboring Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.
   

Kaine's energy plan "called for a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025."

Not true. Kaine's plan called for a 30 percent reduction in projected emissions. It would only be a cut of about 7 percent from current levels. Lowell explains the difference at Raising Kaine. (Lowell also has more great fact-checking of Sunday's article.)

Finally, the article raises an economic paradox - how can you have a reliability and uncertainty at the same time?

"The sustainability of our economic development successes are dependent on having a reliable energy source," said Delacey Skinner, the governor's communications director.

Then ...

[C]ompany officials said they cannot yet estimate how much the average bill might go up.

So a new coal-fired power plant will be a rock-solid source of juice ... but Dominion Virginia Power can't even give us a guess about how much it will drive up our bills? And this is at a time when the price of coal is reaching new heights.

You'd think I'd be pushing the environmental case against this plant the hardest. But it's this economic danger that's actually the most alarming.

Virginia is last in the nation in spending on conservation and energy efficiency, but instead of investing in saving energy, we're going to drop at least $1.8 billion on a new coal plant? Instead of investing in clean energy jobs, we're going to pretend to provide economic opportunity by building a power plant that will actually cost Virginia 1,400 jobs?

None of it makes any sense.

Wise Co. Officials Bribed by Dominion? "It Probably Happened If The Company Said So"

The Wise County Board of Supervisors' efforts to endorse the proposed coal-fired power plant turned into a comedy of errors last week. Within the story is an anecdote that tells you all you need to know about how ...

1. Easy and inexpensive it is to buy off local officials
2. It's always been so easy for energy companies to have their way with rural communities
3. No great atrocity can be committed without the help of enablers

Am I overselling it? You tell me:

Some county officials and a handful of supervisors traveled to Richmond earlier this week to speak in favor of the plant during a State Corporation Commission hearing that eventually will determine if Dominion receives a permit to build it.

Dominion officials who met with the Bristol Herald Courier’s editorial board on Friday said the company picked up the tab for 24 supporters who stayed in $99 hotel rooms. Dominion also paid for a meal.

[Board Chairman Bob] Adkins was asked by the Herald Courier before Friday’s meeting if Dominion paid for hotel rooms of county officials who attended the SCC hearing.

"They reserved the rooms for us," he said. "We paid our own way up."

He said the tab "may or may not be picked up by the county administrator," but those who attended paid for their own meals and expenses.

When told Dominion officials said earlier in the day the company paid for a catered meal, Adkins replied, "We had a nice supper."

When told Dominion officials also said they paid for the rooms, Adkins said it probably happened if the company said so.

You can almost picture it as a comedy skit, with the chairman saying, "Whatever Dominion's answer is? That's my answer too. What? You say Dominion changed their answer? Then I change my answer too. And if they change their minds, my mind will then change with them." I just hope the voters of Wise County are paying attention.

Arlington County Board Condemns Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant

The Arlington County Board has joined Blacksburg and Charlottesville in passing a resolution opposing plans for a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County. It's a bold stand and one that makes me proud to be an Arlingtonian. As I've said before, this plant is a bad idea on so many levels, both economic and environmental.

And who can you count on to provide unbalanced coverage of such a rational move? Why, the Sun Gazette, of course. I wouldn't even call their write-up an "article". So many facts are left out and so many opinions are left in, it's a lot closer to an editorial than anything resembling journalism. It managed to leave out all this:

• According to the Roanoke Times, the plant will be allowed to release more than 12,500 tons of pollution each year, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, the latter a cause of serious breathing problems for people with respiratory illnesses
• Each year, the plant would emit 5.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas causing global warming
• The plant would keep Virginia addicted to mountaintop-removed coal

The movement against the plant is really picking up steam across the state, with the Bristol Herald Courier becoming the latest newspaper to editorialize against the plant.

Please email the County Board right now to congratulate them for taking a strong stand on such a critical issue!

Action Needed: Help Stop the Wise County Coal Power Plant!

The Blacksburg Town Council last night passed a resolution opposing the proposed coal-fired power plant Dominion Virginia Power wants to build in Wise County. Councils in Alexandria, Charlottesville, and Arlington are expected to vote on similar resolutions in the next few days.

But time is running out for you to have your say in the matter. The Virginia State Corporation Commission's (SCC) public comment period expires tomorrow night (Dec. 14) on both the Wise County power plant proposal and Dominion's request to build a huge new transmission line through Virginia. Tell the SCC right now to say no to both!

You can comment on the Wise County plant through the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's website. CCAN provides talking points for you, however you're also welcome to lift from my letter to the SCC:

I'm writing today to comment on case number PUE-2007-00066. I strongly urge you to deny Dominion Virginia Power's request to build a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County on both economic and environmental grounds.

As a Dominion ratepayer, I don't want them investing $1.6 billion in coal at a time when Congress is considering carbon constraint legislation, including one bill sponsored by our very own Sen. John Warner, that would make it much more expensive to burn fossil fuels. If we're locked into coal, my bill is going to go up.

In addition, Virginia is last in the nation in spending on efficiency and conservation. If we were spending wisely, we'd be investing in improving our usage, not expanding our capacity. And when we do need new facilities, we must look to clean, renewable energy.

The environmental impacts of the proposed plant are nothing short of staggering. At a time when scientists say we need to cut global carbon dioxide emissions 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming, this plant would annually spew 5.4 million tons of new carbon dioxide emissions into the air. While Dominion is holding out hope for a future technological breakthrough on capturing and storing carbon, even then the cost of doing so may exceed $100 million each year.

The list of environmental impacts goes on and on. The plant would also emit more than 12,500 annually of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, the latter a cause of serious breathing problems for people with respiratory illnesses. The forest manager for North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest says the plant's 3,300 tons per year in sulfur dioxide emissions would violate the clean air act, which gives special protections to the adjacent 12,000-acre Linville Gorge Wilderness.

The proposed Wise County coal-fired power plant would be an economic and environmental disaster for the state of Virginia. I urge you to do everything in your power to block it.

As for the transmission line, you can submit comment quickly and easily through Virginia's Commitment. Please take the time right now to act on these critical issues!