Proposed Coal-fired Power Plant in Surry County, Va., Now Has Town Approval But Faces a New Regulatory Environment

The publication on March 27, 2012, of draft U.S. EPA regulations on carbon emissions from new power plants led quickly to comments that Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s (ODEC’s) proposed coal-fired Cypress Creek power plant in Surry County faces a doubtful future, despite the Town of Dendron’s renewed approved of the project.   On March 5, the Dendron Town Council voted for a second time to approve local permits for the proposed $5-billion, 1,500-megawatt plant, which would be the largest coal-fired plant in Virginia.  The council’s second vote of approval followed a successful lawsuit challenging the public-notice procedures of the council’s February 2010 vote to approve local permits (many other state and federal permits are still needed before construction on the plant could begin).  But the draft EPA rules would require that new power plants emit no more than 1000 pounds of carbon per megawatt generated, and the proposed Cypress Creek plant—as designed now—would emit an estimated 1700 pounds per megawatt generated.  The March 29, 2012, Virginian-Pilot, quoted David Hudgins, ODEC’s director of external relations, as saying that ODEC’s board would not approved the additional expense of technology to meet the proposed standards “with all this regulatory uncertainty in the air.”

Sources:  Dendron reaffirms approval of $5B coal-fired plant, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 3/7/12; New regulations could doom proposed Surry coal plant, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 3/29/12; EPA to reduce new power plants’ carbon pollution, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/28/12; and EPA Proposes First Carbon Pollution Standard for Future Power Plants/Achievable standard is in line with investments already being made and will inform the building of new plants moving forward, U.S. EPA News Release, 3/27/12

Update (as of February 2012) on Lawsuit over Use of Coal-combustion Fly Ash for Golf Course in City of Chesapeake, Va.

Here are some recent developments (as of late February 2012) over groundwater contamination from coal combustion by-products (fly ash) taken from Dominion Virginia Power’s Deep Creek Power Plant and used in 2002 to construct the Battlefield Golf Club’s course in Chesapeake.  On February 21, lawyers for about 400 people living near the golf course sued Dominion, the golf course’s owners, and two other parties, alleging that 10 people were damaged by groundwater contamination and asking for $2 billion in damages.  The complaint filed on February 21 alleges that the contamination from the golf course has affected some nearby residential wells.  A previous lawsuit, filed in March 2009, was dismissed in 2011 after the judge dismissed much of the case because plaintiffs had not shown sufficient evidence of damages from contamination.  Meanwhile, also in February a $10-million lawsuit against Dominion and another party was filed by a contractor who alleges that his work with fly ash in building the golf course over five years contributed to his developing kidney cancer.  Source:  Chesapeake fly ash suit against Dominion refiled, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 2/22/12.

Here is background on the situation and some previous developments:  1) Starting in 2002, some 1.5 million tons of ash from Dominion Virginia Power’s Deep Creek Power Plant were used in building the golf course.  Starting in March 2008, a series of Virginian-Pilot articles described the use of the ash and alleged impacts on nearby groundwater.  In August 2008, Dominion offered to provide up to $6 million to extend water-supply lines to the area near the golf course.  In April 2010, the U.S. EPA reported that it had found no public-health threat from contaminants in the soil beneath the course.  Since 2008, the EPA had paid a contractor to test 22 golf-course wells and 55 nearby residential wells.  In those tests, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants were found in the golf-course test wells, but EPA concluded that these materials were not moving from the golf course to the residential wells.  Lead had been found in some residential wells and the EPA offered to do further tests on those wells.  Dominion is to continue monitoring the golf course wells four times annually, under oversight by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).  No current risk from golf course fly ash, EPA says, Virginian-Pilot, 4/23/10.

2) In October 2010, Allen Brockman, who worked from 2001 to 2009 as a groundwater specialist for the Virginia DEQ, provided the Virginian-Pilot with an affidavit in which Mr. Brockman asserted that the agency should not have allowed the course to be constructed with the fly ash, that the presence of contamination on the course should have led the DEQ to order the ash to be removed, and that the DEQ “took actions that were not in the public interest in order to, in my view, help or assist the corporate interests of the companies [the DEQ] regulated, including Dominion.”  Former worker: Agency’s OK to use fly ash ‘unconscionable’, Virginian-Pilot, 10/3/10.

3) On March 16, 2011, CDM Engineering released a 600-page study confirming that groundwater under the golf course was contaminated with up to 10 toxic substances, but that the contamination had not reached residences near the course.  Study: Groundwater under Chesapeake course tainted, Virginian-Pilot, 3/17/11.

Water Quality and Appalachian Coal Mining Series Concludes in Feb.13, 2012, Episode of Virginia Water Radio

Water resources are used and affected in important ways by mining and use of Appalachian coal.  One area of attention is water quality and aquatic habitat in streams located in coal-mining regions.  Virginia Water Radio has a series of three episodes based on recent public presentations in 2011 about water quality and coal mining.  Part 3 of the series (7 min./16 sec.) presents perspectives from a representative of Alpha Natural Resources, a major coal-mining company in Appalachia and Virginia.  Have a listen at the following link: Episode 99 (Feb. 13, 2012).

Virginia Water Radio, online at http://www.virginiawaterradio.org, is the Virginia Water Resources Research Center’s weekly podcast using sounds and music to focus on issues, events, people, and creatures connected to Virginia’s waters.

ODEC Proposed Coal-fired Power Plant in Surry County to be Reconsidered in Local Public Hearings Feb. 27 and Mar. 5, 2012

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s (ODEC’s) proposed Cypress Creek coal-fired power plant near the town of Dendron in Surry County will be re-considered in public hearings on February 27 by the Surry County Planning Commission and on March 5 by the Dendron Town Council.  In December 2011, ODEC announced that it would re-apply for local permits—which require new public hearings—after Surry County Circuit Court Judge Samuel Campbell ruled on November 21, 2011, that the Town of Dendron did not follow required public-notice procedures before its February 1, 2010, vote to approve the plant.  Four local citizens filed suit in March 2010 over the public-notice issue, and Judge Campbell agreed that the Town did not give notice on its published agenda that a vote—rather than only a public hearing and discussion—would take place on February 1.  The proposed 1,500 megawatt plant is currently planned for a site in Dendron, but ODEC also has an option on a site in Sussex County.  ODEC continues to seek state and federal permits for the plant, but in September 2010 the cooperative announced that, due to the economic recession at the time, it was delaying the schedule for the plant by 18 to 24 months.

Sources:  Dendron, Surry coal plant hearings are looming, Newport News Daily Press, 2/9/12; Judge voids Dendron council votes on power plants, Newport News Daily Press, 11/21/11; Opponents of proposed Surry coal plant win in court, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 11/22/11; and Dendron hearings on proposed power plant will be repeated in 2012, Newport News Daily Press, 12/20/12.

Water Quality and Appalachian Coal Mining Series Continues in Feb. 6, 2012 Episode of Virginia Water Radio

Water resources are used and affected in important ways by mining and use of Appalachian coal.  One area of attention is water quality and aquatic habitat in streams located in coal-mining regions.  Virginia Water Radio is presenting a series of episodes based on recent public presentations about water quality and coal mining.  Part 2 of the series (7 min./22 sec.) focuses on two current water-quality issues: total dissolved solids and selenium.  Have a listen at the following link: Episode 98 (Feb. 6, 2012).

Virginia Water Radio, online at http://www.virginiawaterradio.org, is the Virginia Water Resources Research Center’s weekly podcast using sounds and music to focus on issues, events, people, and creatures connected to Virginia’s waters.

Buchanan County to Receive Another $3.5 Million in Abandoned Mine Land Funds to Extend Public Water Line

On February 2, 2012, Va. Gov. Robert McDonnell’s office announced that $3.5 million in Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds are being granted to continue a water-line extension near the Buchanan County community of Hurley.  The new grant, funding extension of the line to supply 141 homes, is Phase III of a multi-phase project to provide public water to a total of 222 households near Hurley.  A previous AML grant of $4.76 million, announced in February 2010, provided funding for phase 2 of the Hurley line extension along with a project serving 48 households in the Dunbar area of Wise County.  According to the governor’s news release, AML funds—raised by reclamation taxes on the coal-mining industry and administered by the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy—can be used in areas whose water supplies were impacted by coal mining prior to 1981.  The current AML grant will be supplemented with funds from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Coalfield Water Development Fund, the Southwest Virginia Regional Water and Wastewater Construction Fund, and Buchanan County.

Sources:   Governor McDonnell Announces $3.5 Million in Funding to Provide Public Water to 141 Homes in Buchanan County, Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 2/2/12; and Governor McDonnell Announces $4.76 Million in Funding to Provide Public Water to 270 Homes in Buchanan and Wise Counties , Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 2/12/10.

Water Quality and Coal Mining is the Focus of the January 30, 2012, Episode of Virginia Water Radio

Water resources are used and affected in important ways by mining and use of Appalachian coal.  One area of attention is water quality and aquatic habitat in streams located in coal-mining regions.  Virginia Water Radio is presenting a series of episodes based on recent public presentations about water quality and coal mining.  Part 1 of the series (4 min./28 sec.) is an introduction to coal mining in Virginia and the water resources found in Virginia’s coalfields area.  Have a listen at the following link: Episode 97 (week of January 30, 2012).

Virginia Water Radio, online at http://www.virginiawaterradio.org, is the Virginia Water Resources Research Center’s weekly podcast using sounds and music to focus on issues, events, people, and creatures connected to Virginia’s waters.

EPA Power Plant Standards Issued December 21 for Mercury and other Toxins

On December 21, the U.S. EPA issued new regulations setting standards for power plants’ (particularly coal- and oil-fired power plants) air-emissions of mercury, arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, cyanide, and other toxic substances.  The new standards, the first ever issued for these emissions from power plants, derive from amendments in 1990 to the federal Clean Air Act.  The EPA estimates that over half of existing power plants have already installed technology to meet the new standards, so that the standards will primarily affect about 40 percent of existing coal-fired plants.  Plants will have four years to meet the new standards. In its Regulatory Impact Analysis (Table ES-1, page ES-2; a link to the document is available online at http://www.epa.gov/mats/actions.html), the EPA estimated the regulation’s annual compliance costs at $9.6 billion (in 2007 dollars) and the annual net benefits (after costs) at between $24 billion and $80 billion (depending on the discount rate used) by preventing premature deaths and reducing illness and lost work time.  According to an Associated Press survey of power plants operators and EPA officials, the new standards—along with the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, issued in July 2011 to address transport of ozone and fine particles from power plants to other states—are expected to result in closure of about 32 older power plants, with the potential to result in closure of over 30 others.

Sources:  EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic ‘mercury and air toxics standards’ meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions, U.S. EPA News Release, 12/21/11; EPA forces dirtiest power plants to clean up toxic air pollution, but gives leeway on timing, Associated Press, as published in Washington Post, 12/22/11; EPA unveils rules limiting mercury, other power plant toxins, The Hill, 12/21/11; AP IMPACT: Survey shows more than 32 power plants to be retired because of new pollution rules, Associated Press, 12/19/11; EPA finalizes tough new rules on emissions by power plants, Washington Post, 12/16/11.

University Emissions Numbers and Coal Sources are Part of Coal-use Debate at U.Va.

In mid-November, after members of the University of Virginia’s Sierra Student Coalition held a “Beyond Coal” event to advocate for the school to reduce or eliminate its use of coal as a heating fuel because of the potential health and environmental impacts of coal mining and combustion, Charlottesville Tomorrow reported on the emissions performance of the school’s heating plant.  According to university facilities officials, a $73-million renovation of U. Va.’s main heating facility in 2008 has resulted in the following emissions numbers: removal of over 99 percent of particulate emissions; removal of 92 percent of sulfur dioxides that can result in acid precipitation; emission of half the amount of nitrous oxides allowed by the university’s permit; and emission of mercury at about 15 percent of what currently proposed U.S. EPA regulations would allow for existing heating plants that burn coal.  The university’s chief facilities officer also stated that the heating plant does not purchase coal from sources using mountaintop-removal mining methods.

Source:Advocates: Coal an unhealthy choice for UVa, Charlottesville Tomorrow, 11/20/11

EPA July 2011 Guidance on Review of Applachain Surface Coal Mining Operations under the Clean Water Act

On July 21, 2011, the U.S. EPA issued the final version of its regulatory guidance to Appalachian regional offices on the agency’s role and expectation in regulation of surface coal mining (including mountaintop mining and associated valley fills) under the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Environmental Justice Executive Order.  The July 21 document replaces an “interim final guidance” issued on April 1, 2010.   A key feature of the guidance is the EPA’s call for states to implement a water-quality standard reflecting “best available science” about the relationship between measures of conductivity (as an indicator of the amount of total dissolved solids or salinity) and stream aquatic life.  The EPA’s Web site on regulation of surface coal mining is at http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/mining.cfm; this site includes links to the July 21 guidance, a news release on the guidance, and many background documents.