March 16, 2009

ST. PAUL, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power has reached a safety milestone at the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center project, recording its first 1 million man-hours worked without a lost-time injury. The project logged its 1 millionth hour of safe work on March 5.

"One million man hours without a lost-time accident is a significant accomplishment for any construction project," said Charlie Scott, site project manager. "This achievement exemplifies Dominion's continued commitment to project safety."

Dominion began construction on the $1.8 billion Virginia City power station on June 30, 2008. More than 400 workers are employed in the station's construction, a number that could climb to roughly 1,500 at the time of peak activity in the summer of 2010.

Dominion's prime contractor for the project is Shaw Stone & Webster Inc., whose Virginia City employees recently reached their construction milestone of 500,000 hours worked without a lost-time accident. The remaining man-hours of safe work were done by Dominion employees and Dominion's subcontractors, who have been involved with earth-moving activities and roadwork.

The Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center is projected to need 6 million man-hours of labor to be completed in 2012 and placed into commercial operation in 2012. The power station will generate 585 net megawatts of electricity, or enough to serve 146,000 homes.

The station will provide nearly 1,000 jobs during construction and require a permanent staff of more than 75 people once it begins operating. It will create about 350 mining jobs. A Virginia Tech economic impact study concluded that the station will generate about $440 million a year in tax revenues and other benefits for Wise County.

Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion, is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of more than 27,000 megawatts of generation. Dominion serves retail energy customers in 12 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.

CONTACTS:

Media: Greg Edwards, (276) 762-2036 or (276) 220-9424, Gregory.P.Edwards@dom.com