Below are a few actions you can take to help in the fight against the coal plant proposed for Surry County (Hampton Roads). To learn more about the proposal you can click here to visit the basic info page.

Sign the Petition against the coal plant. It’s the obvious first step and it only takes a moment. Add your name to the list! Come on, What are you waiting for!?

Spread the Message About the Dirty Coal Plant Proposed for Hampton Roads: Write a Letter to the Editor Get the message out to your community! Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about the benefits of investing in energy efficiency instead of dirty coal plants. It is the best way a single citizen can get the word out to a whole lot of people.

Be a Part of the Conversation Become part of the discussion group (google group) made up of individuals concerned about the proposed Surry Power Plant. Please be respectful and post only important updates in regards to the campaign. Failure to show respect of others’ in-boxes will result in immediate removal from the group.

Update on the coal plant fight as of March 16, 2012

The campaign to stop the Cypress Creek coal plant proposal is generating some serious momentum and with Surry County residents leading the way, and advocacy organizations like those in the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition, we have so far kept this project from moving ahead. Most recently, all eyes have been on the Town of Dendron (pop. 272), as the Town Council considered approval for zoning changes for the proposed site to allow for the coal plant.

Locals and people across Hampton Roads have been overwhelmingly opposed to ODEC’s proposed coal plant. Photo of hearing by Jackie Carroll 2/27/12

Locals were successful at delaying the initial local zoning approval for a year. Then, in early 2010, 4 out of 7 members of the Dendron town council voted to approve the zoning. However, they rushed the process and failed to provide proper public notice, and a lawsuit from a local lawyer and blueberry farmer followed.

Recently, the judge ruled in favor of the blueberry farmer, and the Town of Dendron had to repeat the public hearing and vote for local zoning. Now, over three years after it proposed the plant, ODEC is just getting around to receiving local zoning approval – and the opposition just keeps growing. Of the more than 160 coal-fired power plant proposals that have been beaten across the country in the last few years, the vast majority had no opposition in the arena of local zoning. Most of those fights didn’t even begin until after local zoning was approved.

At previous public meetings, the members of the Dendron Town Council have failed to ask a single substantive question or to show anything but blind support for what could be the largest coal-fired power plant in the state. Also, at all five of the previous public hearings the predominantly local speakers have been overwhelmingly opposed to the plant. The meeting on March 5th was no different, hundreds attended and most were opposed. Yet after four hours of citizens asking them to take their time and to get answers to questions Surry residents been unable to pry from ODEC for three years, the Dendron Town Council immediately began reading the motions from pre-printed scripts to approve the massive coal plant, which they did unanimously and without discussion. So, after a three-year delay, ODEC has achieved their very first, very minor step toward permitting the plant.

A few people getting ready for a public hearing

Over the last two years, the opposition movement has grown significantly, with people from Richmond to Virginia Beach joining Surry County residents in the fight. The Town of Surry, Isle of Wight County and Southampton County have all come out opposed to the coal plant. Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and representative Bobby Scott have all officially expressed grave concern. Also opposed are the Norfolk-based Consortium for Infant and Child Health, The Virginia Asthma Coalition and the American Lung Association, as well as nearly every conservation organization in the region.

The regional opposition to the plant comes with good reason. In addition to adding to the demand for mountaintop removal coal, it has been predicted (using EPA approved methodologies) that this coal plant would cause serious health problems for those downwind over the course of its 60-year lifespan. Among other problems, analysts estimate that pollution from the plant would cause over 1,300 asthma ER visits and contribute to over 2,400 heart attacks and 200,000 lost workdays. The broader opposition, already strong across Hampton Roads, just keeps gaining strength, and the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition and our partners will ensure that this project never breaks ground.

Click here to see the latest press on the Surry Coal Plant Campaign

Update on the coal plant fight as of September 8, 2010

Progress in Virginia coal plant fight: ODEC announces postponement!

Old Dominion Electric Co-op announced today that it plans to postpone for up to two years pursuit of air pollution permits for the massive new coal plant it is proposing. This exciting news shows the progress we are making in opposing the plant! The fight is far from over, however, and we need your help to make sure this plant never gets built.

Though ODEC’s plans are delayed the company is working to advance the plant at the local level and is seeking water pollution permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. Please click here to write the Army Corps today to ensure a critical evaluation of ODEC’s purposed need for this massive plant.

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www.WiseEnergyForVirginia.org

September 8, 2010
Appalachian Voices Tom Cormons (301) 910-8973
Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter Glen Besa (804) 387-6001
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Lauren Glickman (804) 335-0915
Southern Environmental Law Center Cale Jaffe (434) 760-0816

Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition calls on ODEC to permanently withdraw delayed coal plant proposal

The Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition lauded Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s announcement today to delay plans for what would be the largest coal-fired power plant in Virginia. The temporary halt will allow the company, its customers, government officials and the conservation community to explore alternatives that will cost less and cause less harm to the environment.

Dendron, Virginia

The coalition has long opposed the $6 billion coal plant and has mobilized tens of thousands of citizens across the state who are concerned about air pollution, mercury poisoning of waters, mountaintop removal coal mining and the consequences of a warming planet. Since 2002, plans for 133 coal-fired plants in the U.S. have been dropped for economic, environmental and other reasons, according to the Sierra Club.

ODEC, according to its press statement, is delaying the project for a coal plant in Surry County by one-and-a-half to two years. The coalition today called on the utility to pull the plug on the coal plant altogether and instead commit to deploying more energy efficiency resources and to pursuing cleaner sources of energy, including offshore wind and solar. These sources of energy would more than offset the 1,500 megawatts from the delayed plant.

Appalachian Voices:
“The degree of citizen opposition to the plant is clearly more than ODEC bargained for. Opponents in Dendron and Surry County really made their voices heard. When the Surry County Planning Commission took this up, at least 200 people showed up and the great majority of speakers opposed the plant. This gives ODEC a sense of what to expect if it pursues state and federal permits and they can already see the opposition building in the greater Hampton Roads area and among their retail co-ops’ ratepayers,” said Tom Cormons, Virginia Director.

Chesapeake Climate Action Network:
“We are encouraged that ODEC recognizes that inevitable carbon pollution regulation will continue to make fossil fuels an incredibly poor investment. As ODEC continues to voice their commitment to this plant, we will continue to make every effort to obstruct this project while pursuing alternatives like energy efficiency and renewable energy sources,” said Mike Tidwell, CCAN director.
Sierra Club:
“This is a prudent pause by ODEC. With the advances in efficiency and renewable energy this delay allows ODEC to keep their options open,” said Glen Besa, Virginia Director of the Sierra Club.

Southern Environmental Law Center:
“All Virginians-watermen on the Chesapeake Bay, downwind families affected by smog and soot pollution, ODEC customers who would be facing higher electric bills to pay for the new plant-can breathe a sigh of relief, but this is not over. The coalition remains engaged in the permitting processes before the Army Corps of Engineers and elsewhere, and we hope to work with ODEC on the clean energy alternatives that produce jobs, keep electricity rates down, and reduce harmful air and water pollution,” said SELC senior attorney Cale Jaffe.

Also, this just in from the Daily Press.

Update on the coal plant fight as of May 2010

In early February, the Town of Dendron and Surry and Sussex Counties approved zoning changes for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative’s proposed $6 billion coal plant. However, thanks to the hard work of local concerned citizens and others around the state, it took ODEC more than a year to get these votes, during which time the grassroots opposition has grown stronger and broader.

With local residents leading the way, we have sent ODEC a clear message: We will confront you every step of the way until we win. Wise Energy for Virginia will continue to work with local citizens as the fight moves to the arenas of the state and federal governments.

The permits the coal plant need to receive in order to be built will be reviewed by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Most of these bodies will have periods where they will be accepting public comment and be holding public hearing looking for public input on each of their particular purviews. None of these comment period or hearing dates have been announced. We will let you know as soon as they are announced via our regular email updates and action alerts.

If you are signed up to receive updates from Wise Energy for Virginia we will keep you updated as hearing dates come about. If not, then sign up here.

For any other questions on this contact our coalition coordinator Whitney Byrd at 434-202-7952 or kayti@wiseenergyva.org. Also be sure to visit our basic info page.