Dominion Power: Outright Lying Starts Here

By: Lowell
Published On: 3/18/2008 11:00:00 AM

Today's Daily Press editorial page is the latest newspaper column calling out Dominion Power for its blatant dishonesty:

Dominion has agreed to forego an incentive that is guaranteed to it in an industry-friendly Virginia law if it builds a coal-fired plant that is "carbon-capture compatible." Passing up the extra profit that the State Corporation Commission would allow it to earn amounts to an admission that the plant will not be a friend to Virginia's environment.

Not hardly. It will release 5 million tons a year of carbon dioxide, the gas that's the main culprit in global warming. Dominion tried to downplay that by styling the Wise County plant "carbon-capture compatible," suggesting that it could keep all that carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
It won't. It can't, because the technology to do so doesn't exist, and no one knows when it will.

Exactly right, let's repeat that: carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology "doesn't exist, and no one knows when it will."  Yet Dominion Power has been busy spending gobs of money playing mind games with the people of Virginia, pretending that Dominion's proposed new coal-fired power plant in Wise County is CCS compatible.  It's not, just as it's not compatible with mountaintop removal coal mining that doesn't devastate the environment (and peoples' lives), as Eric and I saw throughout our recent, 3-day trip to southwestern Virginia. In short, Dominion Power is lying when it claims to care about the environment.  

Let's be clear about Dominion Power -- the ONLY "green" it cares about is the kind that has presidents pictures printed on it

By the way, I fully agree with the Daily Press' comments regarding Gov. Kaine:

...it's unfortunate that Gov. Tim Kaine's acceptance undermines state government's impetus to work toward cleaner power and cleaner air. Saying, as he has, that coal is inevitably part of our power future is like saying that water pollution is inevitably part of the Chesapeake Bay's future. It may be so, but accepting bad ideas doesn't jump-start solutions.

Other states have taken stands against dirty coal-fired plants, old and new, and toward reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Virginia should, too.

What are we waiting for?  Governor?

Comments



Tim Kaine is a HUGE Disapointment (mosquitopest - 3/18/2008 1:35:57 PM)
I'm finally happy that VA limits the Governor to one term.  The sooner Tim Kaine is gone the happier I will be.  He's NOT green and we don't need this type of politician.  We need people who are going to promote green solutions which will help our environment AND our economy.

Buzz....Buzz....



Can any governor in Va do what you ask? (heywaitaminute - 3/19/2008 10:26:13 AM)
Gov Kaine would be branded as an all time maverick if he bucked Dominion and the coal industry.  That does not mean that he should not do so, just that a lot of thought has to go into doing it. He would not be able to successfully run for any future statewide office in the near term if he is painted as a radical and it would indeed be radical, at least in Virginia, to take on such entrenched and powerful camps.  John McCain has taken his maverick label and appears poised to become president as Barack and Hillary beat each other into oblivion, so being a maverick can have its long term rewards, but while being one it is hot, very hot.  So, environmentalists are right back to facing the same old dilemma:  Stick with someone who is making some progress (i.e. expanding open spaces, tweaking enforcement here and there) or go for broke and see what happens.  I lost faith in Kaine when he reappointed a known water polluter (St. Paul's mayor) to the state's water control board but to ask him to take on Dominion and the coal industry is heady stuff. I do respect  Lowell for taking this position though, it takes courage to lay down the gauntlet to someone he truly admires and supported very vigorously.