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