UPDATE: Air Board Approves Permits for Proposed Coal-Fired Plant in Wise County

UPDATE: 6:15 p.m.
The state Air Pollution Control Board unanimously voted just after 6 p.m. to approved the permits that will allow construction of the proposed coal-fired, 585-megawatt power plant near St. Paul, Va.

Learn why board members cast their approving vote in Thursday’s edition of the Bristol Herald Courier.

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m.

The state Air Pollution Control Board continues deliberations this afternoon on the proposed permits for the coal-fired power plant proposed for Wise County.

A motion is on the floor to approve both permits with amendments, which are being discussed. One amendment would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions to 603.6 tons per year or .022 pounds per megawatt hour on a 30-day rolling average. A second would reduce the limit on mercury emissions to a level that would approximate 4.45 pounds per year.

The board is taking a break before considering additional amendments, which will be detailed in Thursday’s Bristol Herald Courier.

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WISE, Va. – The state Air Pollution Control Board may decide this afternoon on whether to approve draft permits for the coal-fired power plant proposed for Wise County.

“There might be a motion or two after lunch,” said board member Bruce Buckheit, just before the board adjourned for lunch on the second day of its meeting here to consider Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center.

The air board heard presentations this morning from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and Dominion, and board members grilled the DEQ with questions about the permits, for which the agency recommends approval.

“We’re not changing this whole discussion on what the pollution control device is or what the engineering is; we’re only looking at what’s the right [emissions control] number,” Buckheit said. “What we can do is create a risk the permit gets stuck in litigation and the plant gets held up for a number of years.”

Buckheit said he is seeking to ensure the project has a “legally defensible, environmentally protective permit that allows this process to go forward.”

Board members questioned DEQ officials about the processes and procedures used to reach proposed limits on emissions and discussed the potential impacts of the plant on state parks and national forest land.

“Basically what they [U.S. Forest Service officials] say is that … sulfur deposition in Linville Gorge [Wilderness Area] has to drop to a very low level in order for acidification to reverse and for streams to be restored in that area,” said Vice Chairwoman Vivian Thompson.“Everything I’ve read in the comments indicates the forest service is very concerned about additional sulfur deposition.”

DEQ officials stressed that no formal findings of adverse impact were made by state or federal agencies.

“Their scientists are in a better position to comment on their ecosystem,” said Mike Kiss, air quality modeling coordinator for DEQ.

In a brief presentation, Dominion’s Chief Environmental Officer Pam Faggert said the proposed plant would include “state of the art emission controls” and would meet standards that are “the strictest in the nation.”

She also said construction of the plant, along with conversion of Dominion’s Bremo Power Station in Fluvanna County to natural gas, would result in a net decrease in emissions of regulated pollutants.

According to figures she presented, it would result in a net decrease of 9,967 tons per year of sulfur dioxide, 926 tons per year of nitrogen oxide and 115 pounds per year of mercury.

Board member Hullihen Moore asked how much biomass she expected the plant to burn in a year; she said between 5 percent and 10 percent.

“We are only proposing to burn waste products,” she said. “We’re not proposing to burn any trees.”

Moore and Buckheit questioned her about the possibility of requiring use of a specified amount of biomass at the plant.

“There’s a lot of cars out there that are flex-fuel capable and they always run on gas,” Buckheit said. “I’d like to try and figure out some way to reach an agreeable position with you where we could put into the permit some mechanism to have this plant truly be a step towards addressing [carbon dioxide].”

Find out if the board makes a decision on the permits in Thursday’s Bristol Herald Courier.