Earlier this year, the state approved a new $1.8 billion, 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant in southwestern Wise County, and Dominion Power began construction this summer—yet a coalition of environmentalist groups continues to fight it. Wise Energy for Virginia hopes both to halt the current plant and prevent future ones from being approved. Consequently, the coalition launched the Wise Energy Tour, which stopped in Charlottesville Monday, October 6.
The point of the tour? Co-director Kayti Wingfield of the Sierra Club wants the tour to transform the fight against the Wise County plant into “the largest grassroots effort Virginia’s ever seen to work on clean energy.” She told the 20 participants in the Tandem School auditorium, “Talking to our legislators is the most direct and most effective way to make change.” She called the coalition’s “Clean Energy Future Pledge” for lawmakers a “gold standard. Whether they sign the pledge or not is not nearly important as you educating them on the issues and building a relationship.”
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The coal plant in Wise is under construction, but activists are trying to turn the fight against that facility into “the largest grassroots effort Virginia’s ever seen to work on clean energy.” |
Wise Energy for Virginia considers coal plants particularly dirty because they emit relatively large amounts of pollution and may encourage mountaintop removal, which blasts away mountaintops to get at coal. The coalition also cites a study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy that suggests improving Virginia’s energy efficiency would save money and create more long-term jobs than building another power plant. Finally, the group believes that the $1.8 billion would be better spent on renewable sources like wind, especially since both presidential candidates support reducing carbon dioxide emissions and Dominion rate payers will pay first for the plant and again for its emissions.
Dominion counters that the plant will be one of the cleanest coal-burners in the country and that Virginia cannot meet its electricity needs from conservation alone, as it already imports more electricity than any state except California.
The tour’s attendees clearly disagree with Dominion. They role-played meetings with delegates and explained their interest in the fight. One was a forester who wanted to protect the region’s natural beauty and ecosystems. A cancer victim worried that air and water pollution from mining and burning coal would expose more people to cancer. Many shared the sentiment that building a coal plant now was “moving backwards instead of forwards” in the face of global warming.
“I grew up in Southwest Virginia,” says Jennifer Johnson, one attendee. “I’ve seen the coal dust and the coal trucks go past every few minutes. These groups have reached out to us, and we’re getting mobilized.”
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