Wise County supervisors hear more from power plant opposition

WISE, Va. – Several residents asked the Board of Supervisors Thursday night if expected pollution a proposed $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant would release into the air and streams is worth the 1,200 jobs and extra money Dominion Virginia Power claims it will bring to Wise County.

They questioned whether the jobs for constructing and operating the plant would go to local residents. The additional costs residents will pay in terms of health problems will be greater than any economic boom, some said.

Wise resident Mary Darcy said a study indicates 25 of the new jobs are estimated to be created in the health-care field.

"Are 25 extra jobs enough to take care of the children who are born with cognitive deficiencies?" Darcy asked.

Others chided the supervisors for acting chummy with the utility and for partaking of food offered in a hospitality room Dominion set up during a Department of Environmental Quality public hearing on an air permit application to operate the proposed plant.

"I felt totally unrepresented and shunned by my local officials," Powell Valley resident Jane Branham told the board. "I was so disappointed."

The supervisors unanimously support the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center. The board says the $6 million in additional revenue it brings would allow the county to move forward and tackle various issues such as school improvements and sewer systems. The county needs the jobs and the additional tax base, the board has said.

The supervisors allowed two representatives of concerned citizens – Diana Withen and Anna Hess – to give a presentation at the start of Thursday’s meeting.

Chairman Bob Adkins said they had 15 minutes for the presentation. Withen and Hess said they thought they had about 25 minutes but said they would speak fast.

Withen said a national backlash against coal-fired plants has caused 20 planned facilities to be cancelled and 300 delayed.

"It seems clear Dominion hopes to grandfather this plant in before it happens," she said.

Hess said the region is surging in ecotourism, but the region must take care of the environment for it to continue.

They said the pollution and toxins the plant will release will be devastating.

The chairman stopped their presentation and asked them to wrap up comments when they presented a slide of George Bush and spoke of global warming concerns.

Other residents continued voicing opposition to the plant during the public expression portion of the meeting.

Adkins announced he was closing public expression after several spoke against the plant in between comments from other residents and local hospital board representatives who spoke for or against Wellmont Health Service’s request for approval to fly a medical helicopter in the county.

However, Adkins also asked a Norton Community Hospital board member if he or his board members had anything to say before public expression ended.

The chairman announced a few minutes later that others could speak if they had something to say that had not already been addressed by others. A few more spoke against the plant while resident Archie Maggard and another resident praised the board for its support of the facility.

Others addressed the medical helicopter issue and public expression ended.

The board made no comments on the power plant issue before the newspaper’s deadline.

Supervisors agreed to table action on the Wellmont request, which is opposed by Mountain States Health Alliance, until more information is garnered by the board.

Adkins appointed a three-member committee of supervisors to work with Wellmont and MSHA on the issue, and the board is expected to address the request again in April

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