Every minute of every day, as Virginians turn on lights and computers and air conditioners, the new power plant in Wise County will send on average 10 tons of greenhouse gases into the already overheated atmosphere. That’s 605 tons an hour, a fearsome 5.3 million tons a year. That’s because last month, Dominion Virginia Power turned on its massive new facility that burns coal but includes zero technology for controlling the carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to heating the planet.
Estimates are that this 585-megawatt facility will increase Virginia’s output of carbon dioxide to more than that of New Jersey, which has 1 million more people than Virginia. The commonwealth will also have the odious distinction of having one of the last coal plants to come online in this country — odious because its emissions far exceed inevitable federal regulations designed to capture power plant pollutants that are baking the planet and wrecking the climate.
Dominion’s timing in firing up this plant couldn’t be more poignant or distressing for Virginians. Less than two weeks before the plant went online, more than a million homes and businesses in the commonwealth lost power for days after a sudden and deadly “derecho” that was fueled along its 600-mile course by energy from an intense heat wave that stretched from Illinois to Washington. No one storm or heat wave can be directly linked to climate change, but scientists say that burning coal and other fossil fuels traps heat in the atmosphere, which in turn can trigger record-breaking temperatures, droughts, forest fires and extreme storms like this summer’s deadly onslaught. In May, for example, the contiguous United States experienced the “warmest spring, warmest year-to-date, and warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported.
So, Dominion better hire more linemen and a bigger PR team, because more extreme weather and resulting outages are forecast in the years ahead.
Last Thursday, I joined hundreds of Virginians in support of SB 564, the Stream Saver Bill. The bill was introduced by state Senator Patsy Ticer and would ban dumping waste from surface mining into streams. 1,900 miles of streams in Appalachia have been buried or degraded by this practice, impacting clean water supplies for residents of southwest Virginia. 
A planned rally was cut short in order to allow supporters to get in line for the special hearing held by the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources committee. Due to turnout, I sat in an overflow room. Hundreds had come to speak for and against the measure. Matt Wasson with Appalachian Voices presented on the environmental and economic destruction that mountain top removal leaves in its wake. During the 45 minutes each side had for public comments, residents of southwest Virginia spoke passionately about their concern for their family and friends’ health and for the mountains.
