January 8, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. – Supporters of Dominion’s proposed Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center told the State Corporation Commission Tuesday that the advanced-technology power station was needed and would be a welcome and environmentally clean addition to Wise County.

"This is a state-of-the-art project that protects the environment while providing much needed electricity and jobs," said Jack Kiser, the mayor of St. Paul, the town closest to the station’s site.  "What’s not to like here?"

Kiser was among nearly 50 elected and public officials, businessmen and homeowners who made the six-hour trip from Southwest Virginia to downtown Richmond to show their support for the power station at an SCC public hearing.  The SCC is deciding on Dominion’s application to build the $1.8 billion power station.

Dominion projects that its customers — 2.3 million and growing — will demand an additional 4,000 megawatts of electricity by 2017.  PJM Interconnection, the independent regional transmission operator in Virginia, 12 other states and the District of Columbia, expects a 1.8 percent annual growth rate in demand for electricity in Dominion’s control zone, the highest growth rate of any of its zones.

Dominion’s strategy for meeting the growing energy needs of its customers in an environmentally responsible manner includes cost-effective energy conservation and peak-load management efforts, as well as construction of new generating facilities fueled by a balanced portfolio of energy sources, including renewable energy.  For example, the company has a 50 percent interest in a 264-megawatt wind farm under construction in Grant County, W.Va.

Other Southwest Virginians making their support loud and clear Tuesday were members of the region’s legislative delegation, including Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Tazewell, and Delegates Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, and Daniel Bowling, D-Oakwood.

The SCC has already ruled that the power station is in the public interest.  Once permits are issued, Dominion plans to start construction on the 585-megawatt power station and have its electricity serving customers by 2012.  The station will use two circulating fluidized bed units that are able to burn coal and up to 20 percent biomass and the latest in environmental controls to reduce emissions and lower water usage.

"Dominion has worked with the community to make this project not only a source of jobs, but also a source of pride," said Wise County Administrator Skip Skinner (view interview video).  "The project’s design uses nine times less water than a conventional coal plant and that will protect the Clinch River.  Dominion has a strong record on the environment.  They’ve delivered on their environmental promises before and I fully expect them to do so again with this project."

Demonstrating its commitment to generating electricity and protecting the environment, Dominion reached an agreement with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Forest Service in December to protect all Class 1 areas, including national parks, surrounding the project.  Dominion will limit or otherwise mitigate the station’s annual sulfur dioxide emissions to half of the permitted level.

A recent Virginia Tech study estimated that the station will contribute more than $400 million annually to the local economy.  This includes about 80 permanent jobs and more than 300 permanent jobs in the local mining industry in a part of Virginia that historically has had high levels of unemployment.
 
Bob Harrison, a St. Paul businessman, said, "This infusion of investment will ripple through our communities and help produce more investment and more growth."

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,500 megawatts of generation, 7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline and 1 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) of proved natural gas and oil reserves. Dominion also owns and operates the nation's largest underground natural gas storage system with about 960 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.

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• View interview video with Barbara Altizer, Executive Director of the Eastern Coal Council.