Last week the Wise Energy for Virginia coalition gave their Governor Tim Kaine 800 Valentine’s Day cards. Inside each one of them there was one request—stop the planned building of a new coal-fired power plant in Wise County.
Dominion Power wants to build a $1.8 billion, 585-megawatt facility near the town of St. Paul. The facility would be one of the top 10 industrial polluters in the Commonwealth and increase mountaintop removal mining in an area that has already been deeply scarred by the devastating practice. If the new plant is approved it will be built less than five miles from the coal-fired Clinch River plant operated by American Electric Power in nearby Carbo—a facility that according to the EPA emits 148 pounds of toxic mercury per year and accounts for 59 premature deaths annually.
But citizens in Virginia are no longer just rolling over for the big bad power industry. Public outcry has made the Wise County plant one of the most controversial issues in the state, and government officials have been forced to take notice. As a result the Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing on the issue tomorrow in Richmond. Large crowds are expected at the Marriott West at 5pm.
More Info: www.southernenvironment.org
