SWVA  
This economically unstable region is looking for both short and long term job solutions.  And I'll bet, given the option, they'd prefer a clean one to the dirty coal solution they currently have.

Environmentalists  
This group is first and foremost looking for a green future where the imminent threat of global warming is ended.  And in the SWVA region environmentalists will also be looking to end the devastating environmental effects of coal mining and burning.

Governor Kaine
Kaine is looking (or should be looking) for solutions that are good for people, the economy, the environment, and for business.  He'll also be considering his legacy - will he be seen as great and visionary leader or just someone who occupied office space in a time of turmoil?

Anyway, it goes like this:

Dominion makes a $100 million donation dedicated to building a state of the art biofuels R&D center in SWVA.  In return they are granted their permit to build the Wise County coal plant.  The state, who is to manage the allocation of those donated funds, then makes partnership arrangements with the aforementioned biofuel entrepreneurs (or other - see below).  The partnership is built around Virginia using the money to support the R&D effort in exchange for long term production facilities operating in SWVA.

SWVA
Short term they get the construction jobs and other coal plant start up related jobs.  Plus the development of the biofuels facility.  Long term they become the hub of Virginia's biofuel production.  They get more jobs and a future that doesn't require the destruction of the environment.  Not to mention a healthier future for their children.

Environmentalists
Although this group would lose on a key battle right now (the coal plant would go through), the positive environmental benefits of a fast tracked, well-funded biofuel program should start paying dividends fairly quickly.  The long term benefits of getting such a program off the ground now would be very good for the environmental movement as it not only leads the way for other states/governments to follow, but also could create strong pressure for all those involved with dirty coal in SWVA to be pushing away from coal and into biofuels.

Entrepreneurs
They need money.  They get money.  I'm not sure how much money they've had invested, but Valcent is sitting on a 5 million dollar facility right now.  I think they'd be more than happy to work with the support an extra 100 million would buy.  They get support through their partnership with the state and its resources (ADDED BONUS: if Virginia University professors are involved in such a program, it'll be a big feather in the cap our our higher eduction system and certainly beneficial to those professors/scientists).  It's what they need to get off the ground - they can stop begging for investors and get to work and building it right.

Governor Kaine
Arguably the biggest winner.  He shows not only strong environmental leadership, but general leadership in bringing such groups together.  He cements his legacy as that of Governor who changed the direction of the business as usual future of dirty energy to one of cleaner energy, breaking the conventional wisdom that it's either the environment or the economy.  He funds this program without requiring any raising of taxes or raiding of other state funds.  He sets a path for stronger economic stability in SWVA.  And he makes pretty much everyone happy (even with the few required compromises).

Virginia Tech almost certainly has the most capacity (in terms of intellectual, human, and financial resources) to deal with a project of this magnitude. Plus, Montgomergy County has developed a great deal lately... if this project starts expanding, there may not be a whole lot of open space conducive to growth. Plus, area jobs aren't dependent on coal.

The two schools most well-situated to fill up coal country jobs (and presumably with enough land for the project) look to be Emory & Henry and UVA-Wise... but do they have the intellectual capital, in terms of their current program offerings and facilities, to make it a reality?

I think the big wad of cash sitting down there, and the potential for recognition the discoveries would generate, would inspire a number of professors around Virginia to take a temporary research sabbatical down in SW.

How about this: Dominion gets to do what we, the people, tell it to do?  How about this: we tell Dominion that we are now decoupling their profits from the amount of power they produce, and instead tying their profits to the amount of power consumption they REDUCE?  How about this:  we tell Dominion to fund the biofuels research project without any quid pro quo at all?  

I agree with most of your points, but there is NO reason and no cost they could pay that should allow Dominion to build another deadly, polluting coal-fired power plant that is going to mean more mountiantop removal in Wise County, where 25% of all the land is already gone and 33% of all the land is permitted to be exploded. It's absolutely perposterous! There is no political, social, or economic reason to do it.

How about Domnion invest money in eficiency in conservation, since VA is dead last in the entire country? (Hint: $0)

Its called a "conservation power plant," and its being done in Austin, TX. By investing in efficiency and conservation, we can save MORE power than we would produce from another dirty coal-fired power plant.

That way we can...
1) Not send more GHGs into the atmosphere
2) Not poison the people of SWVA with local toxic fallout
3) Not increase mountaintop removal in SWVA

Algae Can Help Us Move Past Ethanol's Problems
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/...

There is also Solix Biofuels (Algae)
http://www.solixbiofuels.com/

Green Fuel (Algae)
http://www.greenfuelonline.com/

Solazyme (Algae)
http://www.solazyme.com/

Blue Marble Energy (Algae)
http://www.bluemarbleenergy.net/

That said, sometimes compromises need to be made for the greater good.  The problem with compromises is that you have to give something up - and that always sucks ass.  This situation is no different.  

You may see this differently, but what I see with this idea is that our side has to give Dominion the dirty coal plant (sucks) in exchange for a much greater good.  If this plan went down like I described, it could

* Put in place an alternative economic engine in SWVA so they are no longer stuck with coal being the primary economic answer.

* Provide a homegrown energy solution.  Not just domestic, but in Virginia itself.  Much less dependency on foreign sources or even sources far from Virginia (e.g. oil from Alaska).  More stability and control (Virginia would be managing itself), and less expenditure on transporting whatever fuel.

* With the significant financial backing it would fast track the R&D process for a much greener fuel that not only burns cleaner but also scrubs (to a degree) CO2.  

* These advances would not just be applicable to SWVA or Virginia, they could be used everywhere.  The national CO2 savings alone would far outstrip the negatives of one coal plant.

* These actions would push Virginia toward the leading edge of green technologies rather than wallowing in muck as we are now.  That is good for the economy as a whole and we could even see an influx of investment and intellectual capital as people see Virginia as a green innovator and willing to think outside the box (and make deals outside the box).

* It furthers the notion of a green collar workforce - a subset of workers that needs to grow.  This sort of project gives it additional strength.

Bottomline is that a Wise County coal plant totally sucks ass.  But if we get half of what I described above, I'd make that compromise in a heartbeat.  If we passed on a deal like this in the name of making an stand against one coal plant we'd be giving up far more in advances than we'd be gaining in stopping one dirty plant.  That's taking ten steps backward in order to make one forward.
 

I was up there lobbying on the re-regulation bill last year and we got our CLOCK CLEANED because there was no power coming from the grassroots around the state.

Dominion has never had a check on their power before, and the longer that we are allowed to organized, the better chance we have of not only stopping the plant, but of getting REAL efficiency and conservation measures put in, and bringing green jobs, and a sustainable clean energy economy to Appalachia.

We can do all of those things and still stop this power plant.

If, as you say, Dominion can build its plant without this deal, then of course you're right.  This is pointless without Kaine stepping and forcing Dominion's hand.

Why I think there is some hope (although still little) is that because just about everyone gets something they want, Kaine might be open to an idea like this.

We are really only in slight disagreement, and I might alter your plan like this:
1) Stop the wise county plant
2) Bring in green, clean energy jobs
3) drink a beer (together) cause we win

I know we agree on all three of those things, so let me state the mindset I am starting from...

I think we can, and will, beat this plant.

Of the 59 coal plants that have been defeated in the last year, 40-something were pulled by the utilities themselves becaues of cost. If the citizen air board does a fair job at looking at the total cost to Domnion, the delay will continue to increase the cost of this plant. Not to mention that it gives more time and power to the absolute torrent of grassroots opposition to this plant that has been unleashed in SWVA and everywhere else in VA. I mean, a MILE LONG petition opposing this plant is being delivered to the Dominion shareholders meeting next month.

Dominion knows there are other ways to provide energy than building a dirty, MTR-reliant power plant. They know that it will actually cost jobs in SWVA and hurt the economy and the people there. Its their responsibility to look for reasonable ways to provide power other than poisoning our air, water, and blowing up our mountains, and they are not doing that.

Dominion has gotten everything they want in Virginia for the last 20 years. Regulation, de-regulation, re-regulation. they have been allowed to pass their financial irresponsibilty onto VA rate payers. Power plants have been grandfathered in and pollution control technology has been litigated out rather than implemented. They have paid NOTHING for energy and conservation. They have done NOTHING to protect our mountains and our headwater streams. They have done NOTHING to benefit the people, land, or economy of SWVA.

I totally agree that we should invest in renewable energy throughout Appalachia. I don't disagre with you there, and will work to champion that cause as long and as hard as I can. But we don't need to ALSO build a coal plant.

So, a few points to start on...
We can NOT compromise mountains
We can NOT compromise human health
We can NOT compromise our economy

...all because Dominion is being a whiny bitch.

Dominion SHOULD NOT GET TO BUILD THIS PLANT for any cost.

Its wrong, and they know it, and every citizen and elected official in Virginia should be telling them so. Their backs are against the wall if the citizen air board does its job, and I think thats where we need to continue to focus rather than just caving.

Where is the significant investment (I threw out $100 million as a starter - more would be better) going to come from?  

The state?  The flat earth Republicans have blocked and will continue to block any efforts to raise taxes.  Besides, any tax increase will be dedicated to transportation funding, not green R&D.  And I'm sure no one in Richmond is willing to grab 100 or 200 million from some other fund.  

Private investors?  They could do it today.  But they're not.

The whole reason I've offered up (man, I wish I had that kind of power ;-) the Coal plant to Dominion is that Dominion has that money and then some.  

If this were to go off well, that money would be one of the seeds of a new greener future.  I'm 110% for stopping the coal plant if we can find that money somewhere else.  But in order to move forward we have to have that seed money.

So where else is the seed money going to come from?  Who has pockets as deep as Dominion and could be put into a position that they're willing to lay it down?

So, ultimately Dominion Virginia Power would be asking the SCC for rate relief if they had to fork over $100 mill for an activity which is not their core business function.  In a round about way, rate payers (you and me) would end up paying the $100 million.  It would be the equivalent of a tax, but just a regulated monopoly would be collecting it instead of the state government.  

If we are forcing Big D to do something, we would be better served having them implement demand management programs.  This would include interruptible service, shutting certain users down during peak periods of usage.  This is something that natural gas utilities and certain power companies in the North East already do.  It would also include weatherization programs that would be funded through rates.  This would essentially be a great expansion to the lower-income weatherization assistance that the State does.  But this could be offered to all utility customers.  We could also require that revenue from exported power to PJM be shared with the weatherization program to reduce the rate burden to customers.

Not that demand management isn't a big hill to climb too.  But it would be more acceptable to Dominion as we would be offering rate relief as a part of the package.  Snatching $100 million from them seems like a more remote possibility unless we are allowing them to consider it a part of the cost of the plant for rate making purposes.

A student from the coalfields confronted Bill during the question period about the economic ruin for portions of SWVA that could result from eliminating coal burning and mining. She said that but for coal mining she could not be a student at E&H College.

His answer was powerful and instructive. He said that those regions of the U.S. that would be deeply economically harmed by the loss of coal mining jobs should become the focus of government-sponsored support for green energy business initiatives.

The only way to change support for coal in our coalfields is to offer something better, but, damn, it has to be real (like the Manhattan Project or the Man on the Moon efforts that rallied American resources to the cause), and it has to happen soon while we still have mountains left.

Those regions of the U.S. that would be deeply economically harmed by the loss of coal mining jobs should become the focus of government-sponsored support for green energy business initiatives.

The only way to change support for coal in our coalfields is to offer something better, but, damn, it has to be real (like the Manhattan Project or the Man on the Moon efforts that rallied American resources to the cause), and it has to happen soon while we still have mountains left.

Now, if the wimps in Congress would put the tax back on big oil, or add a carbon tax to everything that emits carbon, we'd have a source of funds.  Then we could tell Dominion where to stick their dirty coal plant because we have our own money.

So, by offering him a scenario like this, he may see his way out of a tight spot.  

If Kaine puts his foot down and says to Dominion the only way they'll get the coal plant is to make the big donation, I think they'll do it.  They want the plant that bad.  And if that is the case, Kaine just needs to work up the courage to stare them down - and they will blink.

We get the funding for green R&D and start moving forward on a green future.  Kaine is a hero to almost everyone - I think even you and Faithfull would come around if the green R&D started paying off.

I KNOW green R&D would pay off. But if we also built a new coal plant then it would make it take a hell of a lot longer to be a net positive. The average life-cycle of coal plant is 35-50 years, and there are one in VA that have been online since the 40s. We don't need to put more coal power in our infrastructure. Its the wrong way to do it. And it absolutely DAMNS the people of Appalachia to more aggressive coal-mining, higher air pollution, and a weaker economy.

Kaine doesn't "say" if the plant stays or goes. The air board does. We are one up on the air board right now, and the Governor is making two new appointments.

Hows this for a compromise...
Governor Kaine, appoint one guy for Dominion and one guy from our side to the air board.

There. We win.

 Cyberstates finds that the D.C. Capital region (which combines the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) is a growing hub for high-tech companies to locate operations. Virginia has earned the distinction of having the highest concentration of tech workers in the country in 2006, the most current state data available. Virginia added 9,800 tech industry jobs, Maryland added 3,200, and the District of Columbia added 600. Though a metropolitan breakdown of the location of these jobs is not available in  Cyberstates 2008, anecdotal evidence shows that much of the growth in Virginia and Maryland is clustered in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

This recent job growth has made the entire region a hub for high-tech activity and a generator of high paying jobs. In terms of tech concentration, Virginia has the highest number of tech workers as a percentage of the overall private sector workforce - 9.0 percent. The District of Columbia has the 4th highest concentration of tech workers - 8.0 percent. And Maryland has the 5th highest concentration - 7.9 percent.

The Cyberstates report shows that these jobs are especially well paid. Virginia's average annual high-tech wage is $86,400 - 98 percent more than the state's average private sector wage the 6th largest in the country. D.C.'s average high-tech wage is $85,700 - 31 percent more than the District's average private sector wage. And Maryland's average high-tech wage is $80,800 - 82 percent more than the state's average private sector wage.

More from the American Electronics Association:

Virginia's tech industry grew by four percent, adding 9,800 jobs for a total of 270,800 in 2006, the most recent year available.  This is the third consecutive year of ranking among the top five states by tech job growth for Virginia.  This growth helps solidify Virginia's placement as the state with the highest concentration of technology workers, with 9.1 percent of its private sector workforce in the tech industry.  These jobs pay nearly twice as much as the average private sector job in Virginia.

Virginia's growth is overwhelmingly attributable to its high-tech services sectors.  The state's largest sector is computer systems design and related services which employs 119,100 people, up 10,300 jobs in 2006, which also was ranked 2nd nationwide, only after California.  While Virginia's second largest sector, engineering services, added 700 net jobs, the state continued to shed telecommunications jobs (-1,000) and Internet services jobs (-800) in 2006.

Venture capital investments in Virginia rose by 16 percent for a total of $463 million in 2007, up from $400 million in 2006.  This ranks the state 13th nationwide by this metric.

"What many people don't realize - even many Virginians - is that Virginia is the 5th largest high-tech state in the nation," said Matthew Kazmierczak, Vice President of Research and Industry Analysis, AeA.  "Our tech industry is thriving.  In order to maintain this growth we need to make sure that the lifeblood of our industry, our highly skilled and highly educated workers, is available.  Right now the United States isn't doing enough to educate the next generation of programmers, scientists, and engineers.  And the stop gap measure of allowing in the best and the brightest from around the world has become a bureaucratic nightmare.  The unfortunate effect of these failures is that job creation could be higher, but is being stymied because of bad public policy."

Further, literally trillions of gallons of water have accumulated in underground mine voids, waiting to be tapped for geothermal energy for above ground development, supplying a cheap source of heat transfer to industrial, commercial and residential sites.  Also intriguing is the possibility that existing mountain top removal operations may have made local wind patterns more consistent to the point that windfarms could be placed there with very little damage to the viewscape. (This is truly trying to make lemonade from lemons but these mountain tops are already gone).

In the coalfields it is a foregone conclusion that national and worldwide demand for coal will continue to motivate mining and re-mining until the recoverable coal is depleted.  The power plant will hasten this process but stopping the power plant will not stop the continued mining of the remaining coal reserves.  The larger issue is air quality, the land is going to be mined. It may seem fatalistic to say these things but under our nation's private property right laws and principles the government can go only so far in regulating the use of private land, the outright banning of mineral extraction is largely  unconstitutional.

Assuming that the foregoing is true, and it is, how can Dominion and the larger coal companies be enticed to explore and yes, exploit, these other coalfield sources of renewable energy and create sustainable green jobs in the process?  In that regard Eric is onto something and, at the same time, the opposition to the power plant has already accomplished a great deal of positive things.  First, Dominion has had to make the plant cleaner than it ever thought it would.  I think they are greatly surprised by the mobilized opposition because generally what happens in the coalfields stays in the coalfields.

I also suspect that the air control board will require even more restrictions but not kill the permit; second, for the first time ever Virginians outside of the coalfields have taken a real interest in what happens there.  Until now, such issues were "out of sight and therefore out of mind" of everyone except coalfield residents; third, many good people with good ideas of how to diversify the coalfield economy have emerged and that can only help an area that is losing population and its young people daily due to a lack of economic opportunities.  

All in all, this debate has been very healthy and even if Gov Kaine appoints Dominion friendly people to the air control board as he most likely will, the net outcome is that the plant would have spewed out much more pollution had groups and localities all across Virginia not have spoken. From this debate may emerge a plan for using the coalfields for something other than a de facto national sacrifice zone for finite resource extraction. Mined lands may become the state's biggest source of renewable energy. I hope so.      
     

MOst important, burning and extracting coal for the plant destroys the best asset the area has - its natural beauty.  Once draglines gouge out the coal, that asset is gone.  The coal is gone, it will be millions of years before there is more, there is no topsoil, nothing grows, there is no future.  It seems like these moonscapes might at least be good for wind turbines, however, the substrate of this moonscape is so loose that it can't even support a turbine.  The area can no longer be productive.  

There is a better way.  Wise County, with state investment, could develop tourism and education jobs that would leverage their best asset, the natural beauty of the area, and would provide a base that could be developed for generations.  There is a future in investing in dude ranches featuring fly fishing, horse back riding, canoeing, and maybe blue grass festivals.  My family has travelled from Northern VA beyond Wise County to reach such a dude ranch in North Carolina, but we would much rather have stayed in Wise County.  There is a future in funding an Environmental Studies program at UVA- Wise to study the mussel populations that are unique to the Clinch River, or to study ways to secure the toxic sludge mounds from flooding the area.  Let Wise County build a future with their mountains, not destroy them and kill their future.  

Secondly, there are plenty of examples of good post-mining uses of mined sites when they are pre-planned properly. The route for the new Coalfields Expressway, which will open up tourism, is along abandoned ridgetop mining sites that are being re-mined and graded for the road, saving a billion dollars in construction costs. Schools, including UVA-Wise, have either taken advantage of post-mined lands or plan on doing so to expand campuses or establish outdoor learning centers. Buchanan County is using 1500 acres of mined and remined  mountain top for industrial parks, commercial development, recreation, trails and grassland.  An award winning site re-mined by Alpha in Russell County hosts a man made wetlands and launched a true effort at replanting native hardwoods instead of white pines, locust and autumn olives.

The trouble is that not enough sites are pre-planned for beneficial uses such as these nor are the majority within economical access for such uses.  The coalfields are largely owned by large outside corporations that are not in the business of preserving open spaces, protecting mature forests or undisturbed watersheds.  The day is fast approaching that from the air one will not be able to find even a small watershed untouched by clear cutting, mining and/or gas exploration.

Every effort should be made to set aside as many of these "virgin" lands as possible to draw visitors to places other than public lands. Setting aside private land requires public funds, such as tax credits for open spaces which are just now being utilized in far SW Va.  There are discussions underway to place 30k acres of coalfield private holdings under a conservation easement, I hope it goes through, otherwise the inevitable will continue to happen.

But we cannot honestly say that all mined lands are a moonscape or that beneficial post mining uses of the land are a pipe dream, there are too many current and planned uses to contradict that. I would agree that the vast majority of stripped mined land is so inaccessible that it cannot be practically argued that it will be used for development, but if the replanting and maintenance of native hardwoods on a more loosely compacted surface is required as part of the permitting and reclamation process, at least the forests will have a chance of meaningful regeneration. With the coal gone for good, there will be no future reason to come in, once again, and bulldoze the surface.  Maybe then Nature will have a chance to do her healing.  

Dozens of small victories and improvements to how mining is done will be appreciable, even though not the best we would like to see.  One thing is for sure, the Dominion issue has brought more attention to land use issues in the coalfields and across Virginia than any topic has in a long time; maybe mandatory best management practices for logging cannot be far behind, that is a travesty within itself that gets little media attention. All I can say is, no matter the outcome of the Dominion plant, the citizens of SW Va will benefit from any and all improvements to overall natural resource protection  brought about by Virginians who heretofore never gave the state's coalfield region a thought.  

You seem to know a thing or three about what is happening in SWVA due to the mining issues - is that true of the logging as well?   If so, I'd very much appreciate it if you could put together a diary about logging in SWVA to enlighten those of us who aren't that up to speed on the issue.  

Here is a teaser: In Virginia best management practices (BMPs) are voluntary which means logging companies do not have to water bar skid and logging roads, seed exposed soil, leave a riparian buffer between the cut area and streams, do re-planting of desirable trees, get a permit, post a bond or conduct a title search or boundary survey to avoid trespass.  Literally, as long as the loggers keep their equipment out of a running stream and give the state a few days notice before cutting the trees, the rest is acceptable.  

In the coalfields a coal company that wants to open a deep mines that would disturb the surface area of, let's say 15 acres, would have to prove ownership of the land and its mining rights, hire an engineer to submit a very detailed permit application, post a bond to assure reclamation, build and maintain sediment structures, publish notices in the local newspapers and return the land to its original contour when the mining is done, grass it over, plant trees on it and keep the bond in force up to ten years after that to make sure the vegetation is established.  A logger could go in next to the coal mine, clear cut 1,000 acres, no permit, no bond, no application, no sediment structure, no replanting requirements.  The logger can leave the cut over site and not put one seed of grass on miles of logging and skid roads or plant one tree.

The logging lobby has a chokehold on the right committees to avoid scrutiny.  Logging is the only extractive industry in the state that has almost absolute leeway to disturb huge boundaries of land and employ virtually no soil and erosion control measures. Loggers are exempt from state soil and erosion control measures, although a homeowner wishing to disturb a quarter acre to build a house is required to obtain a permit.  Ask any state forester in private if BMPs are mandatory and he/she will ultimately tell you "no" although they will try to convince you that most loggers comply without being required to do so but statistics and the gift of vision tell us differently.  

Mickey McGlothlin, who recently ran for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd House District, was previously appointed to the state board of forestry by Gov Warner.  Mickey's first act on the board was to make a motion that the board endorse mandatory BMPs.  The state forester (Garner) was so aghast that such an affront to the industry has been made in his presence that he tried to get Mickey to withdraw his motion, he wouldn't. Then the official minutes were sanitized to avoid any mention of the motion or discussion that followed.  Mickey ran for the House nomination on a pro-environment stance and spent thousands of his own funds to try to keep deep mine/gas well salt water from being dumped untreated in a river in Buchanan County.  He lost the primary to Del Bowling.  The loss was a blow to enhanced conservation in the state but that loss could possibly be rectified.  

Bottom line: all of Virginia is subject to what appears to be outlaw logging but is legal under current state requirements. SW Va is subject to a multitude of heavy land uses, including deep mining, strip mining, natural and coal bed methane gas removal, hundreds of miles of gas pipeline construction, logging, deep well salt water discharges, PCBs from discarded mining and electrical equipment and cows pooping in the creeks at will.  Of all of these watershed threats, logging is the least regulated, incontinent cows are a close second!