Stricter Standards

By Bristol Herald Courier Editorial Board

Published: June 19, 2008

Virginia regulators won’t roll over and play dead for Dominion Power Co. after all.

If the company wants air pollution permits for its Wise County power plant, it must agree to more stringent mercury, sulfur and particulate limits. These revised standards offer significant additional protection from conventional pollutants for nearby residents and the environment.

But standards alone won’t do the job. Enforcement is a must. The permits cannot include an escape clause that allows Dominion to plead hardship and emit mercury, in particular, at a far greater level.

We urge the Air Pollution Control Board to eliminate the mercury emissions opt-out provision, if it decides to issue the permits next week. The opt-out clause appears to give Dominion wide latitude to emit extra mercury any time it burns lesser-quality coal with higher mercury content. That’s a recipe for pollution, not protection.

Dominion has made no secret of its plans to utilize run-of-mine coal, which hasn’t been washed to remove mercury and other impurities, and to burn waste coal or gob piles in the plant. Cost and the availability of these fuel stocks seem to be driving this decision. Environmental protection is an afterthought.

The state Department of Environmental Quality made public the stricter standards for the Wise County plant, officially the Virginia Hybrid Energy Center, earlier this week. The news comes in advance of the Air Pollution Control Board’s June 24 and 25 meeting in Wise.

The new draft permit caps mercury emissions at 8 pounds per year. Dominion had originally asked to blow 72 pounds of mercury from its smokestack annually. Later, the company graciously agreed to reduce emissions to 49.5 pounds a year.

Critics worry that Dominion will agree to the tougher standard but that it lacks the ability or intent to comply with it. This is a legitimate concern. Frequent monitoring and the elimination of the opt-out clause are two measures that will help ensure compliance.

The draft permit also gets tougher on sulfur dioxide, a major acid rain component. Dominion had asked to emit 3,300 tons of the pollutant each year. The DEQ permit calls for no more than 2,469 tons per year.

The draft permit also gets tougher on particulate matter, requiring Dominion to install a continuous monitoring system for “filterable particulate matter.” This is an improvement, but we do note that health researchers are concerned that even tinier particles from power plants might be responsible for heart and lung disease.

If this hypothesis is correct, the power industry must find a technological way to reduce this risk. Even one death is one too many.

One major weakness remains in the proposed permit; it does not address the issue of carbon dioxide emissions and global climate change. Despite Gov. Tim Kaine’s public posturing on climate change, Virginia is opting to be a follower, rather than a leader. This is a bit disappointing, given the bold stands taken by other governors, including Kansas’ Kathleen Sebelius.

If it is built, the Wise County power plant will be one of the state’s major greenhouse gas producers – pumping about 5.4 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air annually. The technical skills needed to capture and indefinitely store, or sequester, this gas don’t yet exist.

Given the likelihood of federal climate change legislation next year, Dominion will probably be required to purchase offsets or carbon allowances for the plant – essentially a pollution penalty. This will add to the plant’s costs, and the rising expense will ultimately fall on the shoulders of Dominion’s ratepayers.

Coal isn’t really a cheap power source when the costs of climate change and the extremely destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining are added to the equation. Be that as it may, the nation isn’t ready to swear off coal yet. And, it seems likely that the Dominion project will eventually move forward. This is reality.

If the plant is destined to go forward, it must be under the strictest of regulations. The revised permits are a step in the right direction, although they can be improved by removing the mercury opt-out clause and strictly monitoring Dominion’s compliance once the plant is operational. Virginia regulators must not give an inch when it comes to the health of area residents.