Dendron hearings on proposed power plant will be repeated in 2012

Dendron hearings on proposed power plant will be repeated in 2012 – Although Old Dominion Electric Cooperative mulled options, site remains top choice

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative will hold a second round of public hearings on a rezoning and conditional use permit to build the state’s largest coal-fueled power plant in Dendron next year.

On Monday, the company’s executive board decided that Old Dominion will repeat the hearings rather than challenge Surry Circuit Court Judge Sam Campbell’s Nov. 18 ruling that residents were not properly notified of the Dendron Town Council’s intent to vote after the first hearing on Feb. 1, 2010, said company spokesman David Hudgins. The company wants to build Cypress Creek Power Station, a 1,500-megawatt coal-burning power plant, on 1,200 acres in town.

The date of the new public hearing – and a subsequent town council vote – for the proposed power station will not be set until 2012. Company and town attorneys will make sure the town’s intent to vote is clear in any advertisements, Hudgins said.

Glad they can’t pull one over on the public this time…

Sadly, when they can see those dollar signs, I can easily see the Town of Dendron and Surry County going for this all over again…yep. They won’t stop till they get what they want whether it’s good for the health of property owners and residents or not.

Yep, do something stupid and expect God to mitigate the damage to people, the earth and wildlife…whatever happened to taking care of what God gave us?! Coal mining and burning coal … oh, yeah, that’s gotta be a good thing for people (especially children, the elderly and those at risk healthwise like my Jim who is on an oxygen concentrator), the earth and wildlife…oh, yeah…that makes sense. NOT.

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.

$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.

A Tale of Two Cities and The Broken Promise of Coal

A Tale of Two Cities and The Broken Promise of Coal

The article and photos by Tom Pelton on the the Chesapeake Bay Foundation blog.

I recently drove down to the blackwater swamps of southern Virginia to witness a tale of two cities. Many residents of tiny, rural Dendron (population, 300) see their community’s economic salvation in the construction of a coal-fired power plant. But others are deeply worried about the health impacts of toxic mercury pollution and microscopic soot particles. Down the road from Dendron, the town of Clover, Virginia, tried a similar path to renaissance 17 years ago — and learned a sobering lesson.

There are several interviews from both Dendron/Surry County residents and Clover/Halifax County residents, as well as the following:

Harvard School of Public Health Associate Professor Dr. Jonathan Levy, an expert on power plant pollution, said that particulates from the Dendron plant’s smokestacks would likely increase the number of asthma and heart attacks in people living across a wide region. “We’ve done a series of studies over the years looking at power plants in specific geographic areas and across the country. And in general we’ve found that the public health burdens are quite large – on the order of tens of thousands of premature deaths per year. When placed in monetary terms, the damages can be quite large, in relation to the cost of electricity.”

ODEC has been trying to say all is safe for residents of Dendron. However, you have to wonder about that. They can’t place the power plant ‘too close’ to the wetlands, but they can place it closer to the Town of Dendron? Yes, they had to move it closer to the Town and it’s residents because of the dangers to the wetlands, believe it or not!

Oh, and do you see how well the Clover plant in the picture above from the CBF article is hidden from view? ODEC also says that the plant will not be an eyesore or all that visible to the Town that it backs up to?! Yeah right…I buy that.

And as discovered by Tom Pelton, the town of Clover didn’t get the economic benefits either. So are we in the Town of Dendron supposed to believe that that will happen here?

I talked to several residents of Clover. They told me that they, just like the people of Dendron, really hoped the construction of a coal plant would spark a rebirth of their long-shrinking town. But after the Clover Power Station opened in 1995, the community’s only restaurant closed, followed by its grocery store and school.

By 1998, Clover had so few residents and so little money, officials took the rare step of dissolving the town.

It no longer exists.

Is that what ODEC hopes will happen to our little town too?

And what if they build this on the smaller property in Sussex County instead of the Town of Dendron? Will Dendron be in the clear? Not likely. I recently heard that the Surry Board of Supervisors got a big surprise on that score too. Even if they build the power plant in Sussex County, they will still likely be shipping the Coal Ash to a new Fly Ash landfill with all it’s hazardous dangers … to DENDRON! And will they still do the railroad to ship it to Dendron? Or bring it by truck? Either way will be disasterous for the Town of Dendron.

We can’t win for losing!

AND they will still be needing water from the James River and still within the same area that they had originally noted if the plant were in Dendron. So the James River will still have environmentally detrimental affects from the ODEC plant.

Oh, and if they still do either or both of these things; eminent domain will still be a threat to property owners in both Surry and Sussex Counties.

As I say, we can’t win for losing…

And what of the state of attainment for Hampton Roads and Virginia because of this plant?

I think that some may now be thinking that as unwanted as the OLF was/is — that it would have been/would be better than this disaster!

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.

ODEC, Surry BOS, Dendron Town Council

Here is a Cree Prophesy that I thought would be appropriate for contemplation with the upcoming public meeting about ODEC’s proposed coal fired 24/7 baseload power plant (Cypress Creek Power Station) in the Town of Dendron, Surry County, Virginia, which will affect all of Hampton Roads:

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

And here is an article that speaks volumes on this topic:

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative turns green, but keeps coal with Dendron plant proposal (DailyPress):

The announcement mentions other contracts to buy power from a landfill gas-to-energy project, a hydroelectric project and another wind power project yet to be built.

Bravo.

It’s heartening to see a commitment to clean power, and any efforts — however small-scale — to purchase and transmit electricity generated by renewable sources.

That only leaves one big, dirty elephant in the room: ODEC’s proposed coal plant in Dendron. This is the $4 billion coal-fired facility planned for a 1,600-acre site in this tiny town in Surry County. If built, it could generate up to 1,500 megawatts, enough to supply power to 375,000 customers.

By comparison, the 101 megawatts from the Pennsylvania wind farm is a puff of air.

How true! The Cypress Creek Power Station would be (if approved) Virginia’s largest coal fired power plant. And although ODEC likes to tout it as being like the Clover, VA plant which is 3 miles from the tiny town of Clover, the Cypress Creek coal plant (if approved) will be twice the size of the Clover Plant and well within a mile of our homes in Dendron, VA.

So it bears repeating:

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country

Adding insult to injury … Virginia waterways ranks second-dirtiest in country (HamptonRoads.com)

Virginia has the second-dirtiest waterways among the 50 states.

That’s according to a recent study by the Environment America advocacy group tallying the amount of pollutants discharged into bodies of water across the nation.

Based on numbers reported to federal authorities, only Indiana had more toxic chemicals released into its waterways by industry than Virginia’s 18 million-plus pounds in 2007.

Sad. Really sad.

So yeah, I see where they are going … the state’s waterways are already a disaster area, so let’s let ODEC add insult to injury by building the state’s largest coal fired power plant – running 24/7 at 1500 MW in Dendron, (Surry, VA.) Hmmm….

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