Wise Power Plant Update
This message is being sent to you at the request of Kathy Selvage of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards:
Congratulations! Thanks to your efforts, we have had a very exciting development
in the fight against Dominion's proposed Wise County coal plant! In response to
over 1500 requests from citizens like you, Virginia's Citizen Air Pollution
Control Board agreed last week that it-rather than the state Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ)-will make the final decision on whether to grant
Dominion the major source air pollution permit the company would need to build
the plant. This is extremely important, because the Board, unlike the DEQ, makes
all its decisions in public and it has made clear that it will hold the permit
to a high standard. Due to concerns over the plant's extremely high mercury and
sulfur dioxide emissions and the large amount of carbon dioxide it would emit
for the amount of energy produced, the Board will not allow construction of the
plant as it is currently proposed.
However-despite this great news-we must step up our fight against the plant.
Dominion will continue pushing for approval from the Board and we need to
continue building opposition to this disastrous project. Here are some of the
most important things you can do to help:
If you live in SW Virginia: Please attend the April 3rd hearing in Wise
County at the St Paul High School auditorium. The hearing regards Dominion's
application for a permit to emit large amounts of the neurotoxin mercury. The
hearing will start at six but please arrive as early as possible to sign up to
speak.
Citizens of Southwest Virginia will be delivering our Mile-Long Petition against
the plant to Dominion's headquarters in Richmond at 1:00 on May 8-the day before
Dominion's shareholders' meeting. There will be a major rally, so please mark
your calendar and plan to attend!
We need your help to meet our 50,000 signature goal for the petition! We are
more than half-way there, but we need your help for this final push. Go to:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1741/t/5977/signUp.jsp?key=3165 to
order a petition packet now!
Keep an eye out for future action alerts! Governor Kaine will soon be appointing
two additional members to the Air Pollution Control Board and we need to be sure
that he appoints responsible members who will fairly review Dominion's permit,
rather than insiders with ties to Dominion. We will keep you posted on this very
important issue and on how you can weigh in.
Congratulations again for your contribution to this great development! Let's
keep up the fight.
Tom Cormons
Appalachian Voices
To sign another petition opposing the power plant or to get more information, see also appvoices.org.