Legislators tour Dominion plant in Wise County

ST. PAUL, Va. – State Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, might be a leading opponent of coal in Virginia, but even she spoke highly Wednesday of the 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant under construction here.

“It’s very impressive,” Ticer said after touring Dominion’s Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center with a group of legislators Wednesday. “This is not your regular plant. It’s unique.”

She stopped short of saying she’d vote in favor of another such plant, but the influential Democrat who chairs the senate’s Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee said the visit changed her perspective.

“I don’t like the idea of coal as a primary source of energy … because it has downsides,” she said. “But I think that here, I’ve always said there’s no such thing as clean coal, and I think here at the plant they want to make it as clean as they possibly can, and provide a needed resource to our population.”

She said she still wants more alternative fuels. But of the power company’s need to provide electricity, she said: “I think this is a very good, very responsible way for them to fulfill that responsibility.”

Ticer was among a group of state legislators who traveled to Southwest Virginia to visit the plant and a reclaimed coal waste site.

Another legislator on the tour was Delegate Joe Morrissey, D-Henrico, a Richmond-area Democrat.

“I’m a fan of renewable sources of energy … [but] I think this is something that’s good that they are doing,” Morrissey said. “And that’s coming from someone who’s probably more on the environmental side of the aisle.”

The general feeling in Richmond, he said, is that, with all the negative side effects of burning coal, it doesn’t make sense to build a new, $1.8 billion coal-burning plant.

Morrissey said he’s leaving with a new understanding of the need for Virginia to use the resources it has, including coal.

“Having come down here, I am much more persuaded that it was a great facility, that we need coal not only to help our economy, but to meet our energy needs, and I’m going to share that.”

For others, including Delegates Charles Poindexter, R-Glade Hill, and Annie B. Crockett-Stark, R-Wytheville, it’s an issue of affordability.

After a winter of $1,000 electric bills sent to impoverished residents, Crockett-Stark said more must be done to keep electricity rates affordable. Poindexter said coal, which provides 95 percent of the electricity in his district, produces the most affordable power.

Delegate Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, said he anticipates the state will take action on the issue and lighten the regulations that make coal plant permitting difficult. He said he believes Virginia also will challenge federal regulations that could stifle such projects.

“I see Virginia taking a very proactive stance against federal regulatory agencies such as EPA to promote the construction of more coal-fired power plants in Virginia,” he said, adding that more plants like Virginia City are “absolutely” down the road.

Even with Southwest Virginia’s legislative delegation and scores of local officials behind the project, the Virginia City plant received its permits in 2008 only after a lengthy controversy and review process.

Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, said he was glad to bring his colleagues from around the state, particularly Ticer, to see the impact of coal on the region.

“My read of my colleagues is they are overwhelmed with this plant in terms of its size and scope, and how important it is to the region,” Wampler said.

Sen. Phil Puckett, touring the plant Wednesday, said the plant will serve as a model for others.

“This is a little fancier than Carbo, William,” he said, referencing the last coal-fired power plant built in the area at nearby Carbo, in 1958. “It’ll be a model.”

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