Update on our Surry/Hampton Roads Coal Plant Fight in Virginia

Locals and people across Hampton Roads have been overwhelmingly opposed to ODEC’s proposed coal plant. Photo at hearing by Jackie Carroll 2/27/12

In December 2008, the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) proposed to build the largest coal plant in Virginia, across the river from Williamsburg in Surry County. It was to be 1,500 megawatts, in the small town of Dendron (pop. 272). With Surry County residents leading the way, and advocacy organizations like Appalachian Voices and our partners backing them up, we have so far kept this project from moving ahead.

The regional opposition to the plant comes with good reason. In addition to adding to the demand for mountaintop removal coal, it has been predicted (using EPA approved methodologies) that this coal plant would cause serious health problems for those downwind over the course of its 60-year lifespan. Among other problems, analysts estimate that pollution from the plant would cause over 1,300 asthma ER visits and contribute to over 2,400 heart attacks and 200,000 lost workdays.

A few people getting ready for a public hearing

Locals were successful at delaying the initial local zoning approval for a year, but 4 out of 7 members of the Dendron town council voted in early 2010 to approve the zoning. However, they rushed the process and failed to provide proper public notice, and a lawsuit from a local lawyer and blueberry farmer followed. Over the last two years, during which ODEC tried to keep this suit from going to court, the opposition movement has grown significantly, with people from Richmond to Virginia Beach joining Surry County residents in the fight. The Town of Surry, Isle of Wight County and Southampton County have all come out opposed to the coal plant. Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and representative Bobby Scott have all officially expressed grave concern. Also opposed are the Norfolk-based Consortium for Infant and Child Health, The Virginia Asthma Coalition and the American Lung Association, as well as nearly every conservation organization in the region.

Recently, the judge ruled in favor of the blueberry farmer, and the Town of Dendron had to repeat the public hearing and vote for local zoning. Now, over three years after it proposed the plant, ODEC is just getting around to receiving local zoning approval – and the opposition just keeps growing. Of the more than 160 coal-fired power plant proposals that have been beaten across the country in the last few years, the vast majority had no opposition in the arena of local zoning. Most of those fights didn’t even begin until after local zoning was approved.

Dendron, Va Town Council, 3/5/12

At previous public meetings, the members of the Dendron Town Council have failed to ask a single substantive question or to show anything but blind support for what could be the largest coal-fired power plant in the state. Also, at all five of the previous public hearings the predominantly local speakers have been overwhelmingly opposed to the plant. The meeting on March 5th was no different, hundreds attended and most were opposed. Yet after four hours of citizens asking them to take their time and to get answers to questions Surry residents been unable to pry from ODEC for three years, the Dendron Town Council immediately began reading the motions from pre-printed scripts to approve the massive coal plant, which they did unanimously and without discussion.

So, after a three-year delay, ODEC has achieved their very first, very minor step toward permitting the plant. The broader opposition, already strong across Hampton Roads, just keeps gaining strength. Appalachian Voices, alongside the citizens of Hampton Roads and our partners will ensure that this project never breaks ground.

Click here to see press surrounding this latest development.

About Mike McCoy

Mike served as the Virginia Campaign Coordinator from 2007 to 2012, working on such issues as stopping the Wise County and Surrey County, Va., proposed coal plants and promoting energy efficiency in the Commonwealth.