Rockefeller: Coal must ‘boldly embrace’ the future

Rockefeller: Coal must ‘boldly embrace’ the future – Coal Tattoo:

Without good health it’s difficult to hold down a job or live the American dream. Chronic illness is debilitating and impacts a family’s income, prosperity and ultimately its happiness.

The annual health benefits of the rule are enormous. EPA has relied on thousands of studies that established the serious and long term impact of these pollutants on premature deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations, pregnant women, babies and children.

Moreover, it significantly reduces the largest remaining human-caused emissions of mercury–a potent neurotoxin with fetal impacts.

Maybe some can shrug off the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics and others but I cannot.

Amen and Amen.

Thank you, Sen. Rockefeller!

I am so happy to see this from the Senior United States Senator from West Virginia!

Maybe this will make a difference for West Virginians and also here in Hampton Roads, Virginia with the proposed 1500 MW Cypress Creek Power Station (ODEC’s proposed coal plant in Dendron, Surry County, VA).

Just one from the very interesting comment section:

Howard Swint says:
June 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm

I support Sen. Rockefeller for his bold leadership in this speech. It’s been a long time coming…

EDIT: Here is the link for the poll:

http://wvgazette.com/polls/201206230087

Apparently any readers of the paper can vote, no matter where you live as purported by FriendsOfCoal.org. So please go vote your mind.

AN ILL WIND – The Secret Threat of Coal Ash

First, I would like to thank those who got our grid power back on here in Virginia after Hurricane Irene knocked it out about 24 hrs before Irene made landfall in the Outerbanks of NC.

One thing that being out of power for more than a couple days does do is make you realize how dependent we all have become on ‘the grid’ and how we really need to change that at some point, don’t you think? Between dangers of outages like this, and potential threats from terrorists on our infrastructure, it just seems to make sense that we figure out a way to get the power we need but by decentralizing from The Grid.

Over the last month, since August 4th, we have intermittently had to deal with the smoke and ill air quality of the wildfire in the dismal swamp. There were times when here in our little town there was smoke hanging in the air, and in our very homes when we woke up in the morning and were having trouble breathing. It was particularly bad for my Jim who is on an oxygen concentrator. Thankfully, Hurricane Irene, actually did one thing that was good, it almost (but not quite) put out that wildfire. I hope they can get the 30 or so hot spots put out before it dries out again.

Because I have a problem with the whole issue of dangerous coal ash, and huge coal plants close to people’s homes and spewing dangerous arsenic, and so much more into our air, does not mean I don’t appreciate The Grid or those who work to provide and maintain, and restore that power after natural disasters like this. My only complaint is the dangerous ways in which they often do that; meaning coal – from the cradle to the grave and the health and environmental dangers it poses.

Coal from Mountain Top Removal to this ILL WIND of coal ash that sends ‘sandstorms’ of coal ash directly over the reservation when the winds blow wrong, and other coal plant travesties around the country and around the world, to ODEC trying to get a 1500 MW coal fired power plant in Dendron, VA and Surry County rolling over to get the money they are promised and the empty purse of promised jobs (yeah, how many and for how long, and what of those who live here?) To the whole of a region like Hampton Roads that will be adversely affected by a 1500 MW coal plant with a prevailing wind that will draw that smoke/vapor over other areas in Hampton Roads.

From the text at Youtube:

See the whole project at http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

The Moapa River Indian Reservation, tribal home of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, sits about 30 miles north of Las Vegas and about 300 yards from the coal ash ponds and landfills of the Reid Gardner Power Station. Coal ash is the toxic ash and sludge left at the end of the coal burning process. It’s laced with arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals. It’s the second largest waste stream in America and it’s currently unregulated.

If the conditions are just wrong, coal ash picks up from Reid Gardner and moves across the desert like a toxic sandstorm sending the local residents running for their homes. The reservation has lung, heart and thyroid disease rates that are abnormally high and the power plant is currently seeking to expand its coal ash storage capability.

The film An Ill Wind tells the Paiute Indians’ story.

View and interactive presentation of the story at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/illwind

Watch the complete film at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL49Ibc0L88

And learn more about coal ash at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/coalash

Many thanks to the Moapa Band of Paiutes for allowing us to tell this story and to Vinny Spotleson of the Sierra Club and Dan Galpern of the Western Environmental Law Center for helping with the project.

I guess we as individuals and families really do need to start thinking about how we can get ourselves off the grid … if more homes are off the grid, these big coal plants wouldn’t even be considered necessary…

Calculating the cost of coal – editorial

Calculating the cost of coal – editorial (HamptonRoads.com)

In a new report, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation estimates that air pollution from the ODEC plant would cost $200 million each year in new health care costs. The report predicts 442 additional asthma attacks annually, 3,340 work days lost to sickness, 40 heart attacks and 26 premature deaths in the region.

Dispute, if you like, the precision of those estimates. But to pretend the actual number is 0 – or anywhere near it – is folly.

So true that…

And those of us who live in Hampton Roads will suffer the consequences … particularly those here in Dendron, VA with health issues already.

Course the needs of the many seem to outweigh the lives of the few, or the one…

Except to the loved ones of those this 1500MW coal plant will put in jeopardy…or worse.

Breaking News – Smith Coal Plant Cancelled and a new collaboration planned between activists and the utility!

Breaking News – Smith Coal Plant Cancelled and a new collaboration planned between activists and the utility!

BREAKING: Kentucky Cancels Coal Plant, New Power Movement Electrifies Grassroot Alliance (Huffington Post):

Thanks to a powerful and growing New Power grassroots movement, a broad alliance of Kentucky activists sent an electrifying message across the nation today: A just transition to a clean energy future, even in the heartland of coal country Kentucky, is possible.

Breaking News: SMITH PLANT CANCELLED! Clean energy collaboration planned. (Kentuckians For The Commonwealth):

We have some great news to announce: The coal-burning power plant proposed by the East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC) has been canceled by the utility.

EKPC has entered into an agreement with Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Environmental Foundation, the Sierra Club, three individual co-op members, the Kentucky attorney general, and Gallatin Steel (EKPC’s biggest industrial customer). Under the agreement, EKPC will halt its plans for the proposed coal-burning power plant in Clark County by abandoning the permits it needed to proceed with construction. The cooperative also committed $125,000 toward a collaborative effort in which the public interest groups, EKPC and its member co-ops, and other parties will work together to evaluate and recommend new energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options.

This is awesome news!!! And in the heart of Coal Country! Utilities and Clean Energy Activism working together to the common good! What an exciting prospect!

It can be done and it looks like there might still be hope for the folks in Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed regarding ODEC’s Cedar 1500MW Creek Power Station proposed within Dendron, VA (in Surry County, VA).

Keep Focus on plans for Coal Plant

Keep Focus on plans for Coal Plant
Originally in The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Oct 2, 2010. The article is by Bob Burnley

In response to ODEC supposedly putting this 1500 MW ‘twin towers’ 24/7 coal plant on ice for 12-18 months, but all the while still continuing their permit process with the USACE and EPA, Bob Burnley reminds us of the following and more in this article:

The plant would make existing environmental and economic problems in the region worse. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Virginia Beach ranks 45th on a list of the “most challenging places to live with asthma.” Richmond is No. 1. Three thousand tons of ozone-producing nitrogen oxides and 2,000 tons per year of particulate matter from the plant, just upwind from Virginia Beach, would exacerbate this.

The plant would emit mercury, a neurotoxin. Babies exposed before birth can suffer reduced IQ levels and other neurological problems. Children exposed can suffer learning disabilities and other health issues. There has to be a healthier way to generate electricity.

Citizens across the Bay watershed are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to remove nitrogen from discharges to the Bay and its tributaries. This plant and the thousands of tons of nitrogen compounds emitted from its smokestacks could very well doom the Bay, the region’s watermen and a thriving tourist industry. There must be a less polluting way to generate power.

Much more in this must read article.

We can not forget what they want to do to Dendron, Surry County, Hampton Roads, Virginia, or how this coal is obtained from the ancient mountains in Appalachia through MTR and how Wise Engergy for Virginia and others are trying to help keep this from happening.

More information here on my blog.

Progress in Virginia coal plant fight: ODEC announces postponement

ODEC is delaying building Cypress Creek Power Station for 18-24 months! This is some exciting news! It feels like a reprieve or maybe for some, a stay of execution…

Note however that ODEC is quick to point out that they are not backing down on building the Cypress Creek Power Station, but “The delay is result of uncertain federal regulations and the slumping economy, which has altered the nation’s projected electricity demands. … “The economy just doesn’t seem to be coming out of the recession that quickly,” he said.“

BTW: Here’s something we all can do to help….write to the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Progress in Virginia coal plant fight: ODEC announces postponement!

Old Dominion Electric Co-op announced today that it plans to postpone for up to two years pursuit of air pollution permits for the massive new coal plant it is proposing. This exciting news shows the progress we are making in opposing the plant! The fight is far from over, however, and we need your help to make sure this plant never gets built.

Though ODEC’s plans are delayed the company is working to advance the plant at the local level and is seeking water pollution permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. Please click here to write the Army Corps today to ensure a critical evaluation of ODEC’s purposed need for this massive plant.

Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition Lauds Delay of ODEC’s Plans for Coal-FIred Power Plant ” (also at SELC here);

The Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition lauded Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s announcement today to delay plans for what would be the largest coal-fired power plant in Virginia. The temporary halt will allow the company, its customers, government officials and the conservation community to explore alternatives that will cost less and cause less harm to the environment.

Woohoo! Delay gives more time to consider the issues. And it must be very gratifying to those who had already calculated from the numbers – even before the economy started collapsing and not recovering as quickly as claimed – that ODEC’s statements on energy needs did not warrant building the 1500 MEGAWATT Cypress Creek Power Station in our backyards here in Dendron, Surry County, VA.

You know, it would be so much better if regulation wasn’t necessary. I for one do not generally agree that more regulation is better; in fact, it usually makes matters worse. I am against government intervention in businesses, or in our lives, in general. I believe in freedom and liberty and how important it is.

However, when the greed of companies (and people’s perceived need of electricity), causes disrespect and neglect in looking out for the health and welfare of those who will live near and around this behemoth power station … I just don’t see what recourse we have. Especially when many residents know this county really needs some financial help which this business would provide. But at what cost?!

This Cypress Creek Power Station will be within 1 mile of ALL residents of the Town of Dendron. But the 30 mile footprint of the worst of the effects of a coal plant this big will affect all of Hampton Roads.

Those of us who see beyond the dollar signs just have to hope that the EPA and the VA Air Board and the USACE will look at everything, not just what ODEC says, and the money or electricity it will provide downline, and come up with sound and safe regulations for the health and welfare of all local residents.

The needs of the many in this case do not outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Not when there are safer and healthier alternatives that can do what is needed, even if it would cost more money.

People are more important than things.

Ultimately keeping the environment safe means saving lives, or at the very least providing better quality of life. We have to live on this planet, we have to eat the food grown here and livestock raised here, we have to breath the air, and drink the water. We can’t afford to be so shortsighted.

Here’s a good example from a recent situation that happened locally. I will preface this with the fact that it is very infrequent that we, here in Dendron, VA experience poor air quality, but over the last week we actually had a few days when the air quality was poor. This was documented on the NOAA/Weather.gov site.

I have had such good air to breath most of the time, that I forgot what it was to have labored breathing while doing nothing in particular laborious! And it was hard to breath freely — this was particularly true for those with lung ailments (including my Jim who has a paralyzed right side diaphragm). Just think how hard it will be to breath in pretty short order with poor air quality much of the time, if not all the time, after this 1500 MEGAWATT plant goes online 24/7.

What kind of physical stress does that put on a person’s body? I for one do not wish to live that way — day in and day out — just so others who live in another state, or another part of Virginia, can have more electricity. There are ways to generate electricity much more safely for humans and the environment. Let’s make that happen. Please…

==

Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition Lauds Delay of ODEC’s Plans for a Coal-Fired Plant (SELC)

Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition Lauds Delay of ODEC’s Plans for Coal-FIred Power Plant (PitchEngine)

Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition calls on ODEC to permanently withdraw delayed coal plant proposal (CCAN)

BREAKING NEWS: ODEC Delays Coal Plant Proposal, Wise Energy Coalition Calls on ODEC to Withdraw (WiseEnergyForVirginia)

Surry coal plant delayed 18-24 months (DailyPress)

ODEC delays plans for power plant permits (VirginiaBusiness)

ODEC Delays Plans for Surry-Hampton Roads Coal Plant (BlueVirginia)

ODEC Delays Plans for Surry-Hampton Roads Coal Plant (Article XI)

And of course many articles about this on my own blog here.

$6 Billion Dollar Coal-fired Power Plant

$6 Billion Dollar Coal-fired Power Plant (ClarkeDailyNews.com):

Clarke Daily News – Opinion & Editorial

The July 15 article “New Electric Provider Promises Better Service and Lower Rates” brings up a very good point. Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) members are part owners of their utility. As part owners, they have the right to know what REC is doing, to have a voice in the decision making process, and to hold the board of directors accountable for its decisions.

So why was Rob Marmet, a candidate for the board of directors, the only one to mention the $6 billion coal plant being proposed by REC’s parent cooperative? It is the most expensive plant ever proposed in the U.S., yet it was barely touched upon by the board. Instead, they promised lower rates. Where is this $6 billion going to come from, if not the electricity bills of the members?

If 15,000 new members did not receive their membership packets, as stated by REC, how many of them did not receive their Cooperative Living magazine that contains their proxy ballot? This is the only way in which members are able to vote for the board of directors and express their views about REC’s already apparent lack of transparency and accountability. REC is clearly not providing its members with vital information about decisions within the co-op, nor are they making the decision-making process easily accessible to new members. I urge REC members to make their voices heard on these matters before it’s $6 billion too late.

Justin Klecha

Fredericksburg, Virginia

The article Justin Klecha is referring to is here: New Electric Provider Promises Better Service and Lower Rates – worth a read.

And there is more information on REC’s Board of Directors Candidate Rob Marmet here: Rob4Rec.com where he asks some pointed questions regarding the costs involved for the new proposed ODEC plant in Dendron, Surry County, Virginia. The REC is a member of the Cooperative for which ODEC provides power. (From the Get The Facts tab) where Rob Marmet says:

The Proposed Surry Coal Plant

In December 2008, REC’s parent cooperative, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), announced plans to construct a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant just 32 miles from the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton Roads. It would be the largest coal plant in Virginia and the most expensive plant ever constructed in the U.S.

This coal-fired plant’s daily environmental impact would be the equivalent of putting three million more cars on our roads. Requiring at least 26 million gallons of water daily from the James River, the plant would spew more than 110,000 pounds of toxic emissions daily into our air and water. Pollutants including lead, mercury, and nitrogen could devastate sensitive oyster and crab spawning grounds and undermine renewed efforts to restore the Bay.

The plant would be in danger of stifling other economic development in the area as a result of poor air quality and non-attainment designations. More than 100 coal plants have been canceled, delayed, or rejected in the United States since 2001 due to similar concerns.

If built, the project will cost upwards of $4-6 billion. Cooperative members will be locked into a 40 to 50 year obligation, ultimately paying $8,989-$13,483 per household for the cost of the plant. REC board members have been making these decisions behind closed doors and providing little information about the project and its potential effects on members’ rates.
Money Spent to Date
Disclosed Costs

Land purchased for coal plant: $14.3 million

Land purchased for water intake facility: $1.1 million

Clean Air Act application: $1.1 million

Rezoning fee: $10,000

Money promised to the town of Dendron, proposed site for the plant:
Playground: $100,000
Water repairs: $600,000
New sidewalks: $65,000
Undisclosed Costs

Designing plant, attorney fees, modeling and analysis for permitting applications

Total Spent: About $16 million dollars

Projected additional costs: More than $5 billion

How much does REC owe? Rob Marmet wants answers!

Yeah, the proposed plant is very close to the James River which feeds the Chesapeake Bay and all of Hampton Roads which is bad, but it’s also within 1 mile (stack shadow) of our little rural town of Dendron, Surry County where, if built, there will be 2 huge stacks spewing all this crap that Rob Marmet talks about right outside our little town’s home’s windows….and so much more….

It is sad to see that ODEC appears to have won in Dendron and Surry County where all they can see are the dollar signs in a very down economy … instead of the long term health red flag signs that everyone will have to live with for a very long time ….

Check out other articles I have posted here on my blog about this proposed coal fired power plant since this all started here in Dendron, Surry County, Virginia here.

VA DEQ, EPA, and USACE … last hope to block largest coal plant in Virginia?

Well, after February 1st Dendron Town Council (DTC) Meeting where they approved everything that ODEC Old Dominion Electric Cooperative) wanted, and February 4th Surry Board of Supervisor (BoS) Meeting where they approved everything ODEC wanted, and the Sussex Meeting the same night where they approved everything ODEC wanted … see a trend here? … It looks like the VA DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality), the EPA, and the USACE (US Army Corp of Engineers) may be the last best hope for the folks who are concerned about ODEC’s plans to build Virginia’s largest coal fired baseload 24/7 power plant in the tiny town of Dendron in Surry County, Virginia.

I sometimes wonder at any kind of logic being used in rural counties that are experiencing revenue challenges in the economic turn down we have been experiencing.

I see totally unbelievable decisions being made by our local governments with no thought to how it will affect the Hampton Roads area, the Chesapeake Bay and James River, or the farms that naively think that they will be able to continue farming safely after this plant is operational, or even our little town. Or their thinking that somehow the blood money they have taken and will continue to take from ODEC will protect them against the economic bad times and keep the county going forward, or give them any kind of good sleep at night. Yeah, maybe in the short term, but what about the long term?

What about the downwind and downline affects to people, including children at the Surry County School system? What about the affects upon those who are ill from the particulate matter, mercury, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and more that will be spewed by such a huge plant that makes our town look like it’s a dwarf by comparison? There are so many issues that are not addressed, and all I heard from the proponents of the Cypress Creek Power Plant is that they trust our government and ODEC to do the right thing?!?!

Well, the floodgates are open now. All that stands in their way now is the VA DEQ, the EPA and the USACE.

I have always believed that even in the face of terrible things — because life is full of all kinds of things; good, bad and indifferent — that God is able to take the worst lemons that are dealt to us, and somehow make the best lemonade out of them. I pray that somehow, in some way, that will happen with this situation. I can’t see it now, but I sure hope so.

But I did learn something important about this situation. You can’t fight dollar signs. Logic and facts mean nothing when huge amounts of money are thrown at local governments, churches and people who are suffering from economic turn down.

I will be hoping and praying for that lemonade … because these are the bitterest and most rotten lemons I have every seen.

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis

Air Pollution Increases Infants’ Risk Of Bronchiolitis (ScienceDaily.com)

Infants who are exposed to higher levels of air pollution are at increased risk for bronchiolitis, according to a new study.

The study appears in the November 15 issue of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“There has been very little study of the consequences of early life exposure to air pollution,” said Catherine Karr, M.D. PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the paper’s lead author. “This study is unique in that we were able to look at multiple sources including wood smoke in a region with relatively low concentrations of ambient air pollution overall.”

Much more in the article!

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine – part E. Environmental and Occupational Lung Disease of the current November 15, 2009 issue.

Registration is required to read the full article however, the abstract is available here which includes the conclusions below:

Conclusions: Air pollutants from several sources may increase infant bronchiolitis requiring clinical care. Traffic, local point source emissions, and wood smoke may contribute to this disease.

Under measurements and readings above the conclusions states:

An interquartile increase in lifetime exposure to NO2, NO, SO2, CO, wood-smoke exposure days, and point source emissions score was associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis…

What pollutants do coal plants introduce? At least a few of those listed, plus more: Power Plant Emissions Publications

Coal Ash is safe? Tell these poor folks that…

Dominican Republic town blames U.S. firm for birth defects (Miami Herald)

A small Dominican Republic town plagued by birth defects wants to know if a U.S. power company is to blame.

…

A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Delaware charges that toxic levels of waste dumped at the Arroyo Barril port has made people nearby sick. After years of repeated miscarriages, women whose blood levels show abnormal levels of arsenic are giving birth to babies with cranial deformities, with organs outside their bodies or missing limbs.

The case highlights the debate over coal ash, an unregulated byproduct of coal energy, which when processed and recycled is used in everything from cement to the foundation for golf courses. Popular Mechanics magazine this month calls a concrete made from coal ash one of the “10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009.”

Much more in the several page article and a heartbreaking video.

OK, so to quote a WVEC.com article entitled, “ODEC response to CBF Report“:

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC ) categorically refutes the assertion that the Clean Water Act can be used to govern air emissions. This is what Congress and the previous administrations intended the Clean Air Act to do. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) novel and specious argument that ODEC is somehow doing an illegal activity is patently false and untrue. ODEC has and will continue to meet our legally mandated obligation to provide environmentally-responsible and cost-efficient electricity to the consumer-members of the not-for-profit electric distribution cooperatives that ODEC serves.

The article goes on to say:

“Illegal” emissions:

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) strongly rejects the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s (CBF) allegation that the emissions from the proposed Cypress Creek Power Station would be “illegal.” The application for this proposed facility is subject to the most rigorous review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and numerous other state and federal regulatory agencies. The proposed Cypress Creek Power Station will be permitted and licensed under all applicable regulations, including the Clear Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

That is a half truth. There is no mention of the current ongoing investigation by the EPA.

EPA to Issue Strict Rules for U.S. Power Plant Air Toxics (EarthJustice.org – October 23, 2009):

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to adopt rules reducing toxic air pollution from the nation’s coal- and oil-burning power plants, by November 2011, according to a settlement agreement reached in a federal lawsuit brought against the agency by a coalition of public health and environmental groups.

The settlement has been lodged in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Attorneys at Earthjustice, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Clean Air Task Force, Natural Resources Defense Council, Southern Environmental Law Center, and Waterkeeper Alliance filed the lawsuit last December on behalf of their organizations and the American Nurses Association, Conservation Law Foundation, Environment America, Environmental Defense Fund, Izaak Walton League of America, Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Ohio Environmental Council, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and the Sierra Club.

The lawsuit was based on EPA’s failure to meet the Clean Air Act’s deadline for issuing regulations controlling toxic air pollution from power plants.

“Power plants are the largest unregulated industrial source of air toxics. It is unconscionable that 19 years after the Clean Air Act of 1990, we still do not have air toxics controls on these large existing sources of pollution,” said James Pew of Earthjustice. “After years of litigating this issue, our groups look forward to a productive working relationship with the agency as it finally develops these rules.”

Children and women of childbearing age are at risk when power plants emit the levels of mercury they are emitting today – all 50 states, and one US territory, have declared fish advisories warning about mercury contamination.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of this case, and look forward to working with the EPA to develop emissions standards for this industry that mandate the deep cuts in this pollution that the law requires,” said Ann Weeks, legal director at the Clean Air Task Force, one of the lead attorneys for the groups.

Much more in the article.

And now that there has been yet another Fly Ash/Coal Ash breach in Mass. (near the end of their special meeting announcement:

In other money matters for the warrant, selectmen agreed to submit an item asking the town to appropriate an as-yet undecided amount of money for the continued care of the town’s former landfill.

Located on Brayton Point Road, south of Route 6, the landfill is owned in part by electric company National Grid and the Velozo family. The landfill was capped in the early 1980s.

In March of 2008, the town became aware that the landfill was breached due to unauthorized use of the site by dirt bike racers. The dirt bikes’ tires scarred the landfill and rain washed out the scars, creating an erosion problem. Fly ash from the Brayton Point Power Station, placed over the landfill’s liner, washed out into nearby wetlands and, where the fly ash was washed out, the landfill’s liner tore. An estimated 2,500 pounds of fly ash washed out of the landfill.

Luttrell said the problems at the landfill have since been fixed, but money is needed to continue upkeep.

“The money, if approved, would go to maintenance,” Luttrell said. “We’re required to cut grass and trees and conduct water testing in the area of the landfill.”

It is not a matter of IF a coal ash landfill will leak or be breached, but a matter of WHEN.

Yet another reason to put off installing a 1500 MW baseload coal fired power plant in the middle of a small rural community of 300 plus people in Surry County (the Town of Dendron).

And while I am on the subject of the ‘proposed’ coal plant, I, for one, am appalled at the accusation, on a local WVEC.com news station video, by Dendron Mayor and by others in the local newspapers and TV news, not just implying but coming out and accusing those who oppose the plant of being responsible for the Halloween church cemetery and ODEC sign vandalism.

To say that those of us who are against the coal plant being built in Dendron would have anything to do with vandalizing a church cemetery or vandalizing the huge Cypress Creek signs all over the county supporting the 1500 MW coal fired power plant being built in Dendron, VA is ludicrous. We love our Town and its historic roots too much to be associated with such things. As a matter of fact, here is the letter from some of us in Surry County about this very subject that was read by Betsy Shepard to the Dendron Town Council at their Town Council meeting this past Monday night:

Dear Mayor Pierce and Members of the Town Council,

We were deeply disturbed to hear about the recent destruction and theft of property in Dendron. Although we are opponents of the proposed coal plant, we unite with those who support the project to condemn these cowardly and thuggish acts.

One of the wonderful things we can take away from this coal plant proposal is the awareness that so many of us care very deeply about the quality of life in Surry County. The small, but very important, difference between us has made it clear that, while we may differ as to the method of achieving it, all of us want the best county we can live in. And while we may disagree about what is best for the county, we are certain that we ALL agree that criminal activity and division are bad for the county.

To that end, we would like to offer a reward of $500 for any information that leads to the capture and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the recent damage in Dendron. It is our most sincere hope that this issue will not create further division in our community and that those who wish to express their opinions may do so freely and without interference.

Sincerely yours,

Chris Anderson
Karen Clancy
Jim & Lisa Craig
Mike & Helen Eggleston
Steve Holloway
Bob & Kathryn Oliver
Fran Parker
Joe & Wendy Robers
Betsy Shepard
Donna Slade
Kim & Mark Sperry

I wonder who is fostering this division? Hmmmm. I wonder who would profit from fostering division within our county? Hmmmm. I wonder.