The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board Dominion Virginia Power has approved air pollution permits for Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County. “We have not yet had the opportunity to review the final permits, but this decision paves the way for us to start construction in the very near future,” the company stated yesterday in a press release.
Although the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Facility will be cleaner than most coal plants, it falls far short of environmentalist expectations. Rate payers won’t like it either once they figure out how much it will cost them.
I haven’t seen an accounting of what impact the plant will have on Dominion’s electric rates. But $1.8 billion is a lot to spend for a facility that generates only 585 megawatts, enough to power only 146,000 homes. What’s that? Ten years of Northern Virginia residential development — not including commercial growth and the scads of new energy-intensive data centers that are in the works?
If you live in Dominion service territory, prepare yourself for electric shock. It’s coming!
