A massive new coal-fired electric plant has been approved for construction in Virginia that will ensure tons more greenhouse gas will be pumped into the atmosphere for decades to come.
Proponents of the plant are claiming that the plant will be built to be "carbon capture ready," meaning that at some point down the road, the plant could be fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology that would trap and bury the greenhouse gas emissions underground.
The reason that the plant can only be "carbon capture-ready" and not actually "catching carbon" is that CCS technology does not exist on a commercial scale yet, and even according to the coal industry itself, such technology is still decades away.
When construction of the new coal plant is finished around 2012, it's expected to produce some 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
At the earliest, CCS won't be commercially available until around the year 2030 (if it is even possible) so this new coal plant in Virginia will pump greenhouse gas into the atmosphere for about 18 years before anything is done about it. In other words, too little action, way too late if we want to avoid a catastrophic disruption of our Earth's climate system.
Great news!
Awesome! This means many many jobs for the great Virginia economy!
I will reference the 'sky is falling' nonsense regarding GW when this plant is complete and nothing has changed dramatically with the environment.
maybe my out of work..lazy.. welfare clown.. brother in law can get a job shoveling coal at this plant :)
Coal and jobs a bad mix
Here's a great piece on how coal production in Virginia has increased, while jobs in the coal industry have plummeted: http://www.coal-is-dirty.com/blasting-appalachian-economy
The "great for economy" and "creat more jobs" political message is an appealing one and makes for a great soundbite, but its simply not the reality.
Even better, here's a graph showing the increase in coal prodcution over the years and the massive decreases in coal industry jobs over the same period.
Way to Go VA!!!!
Bout time a state has the balls to generate jobs, strengthen the economy, help advance clean coal technology and keep electricity affordable by using coal!!
Great work VA!!
Great picture of steam
Coming out of the stack there Kevin....
Way to greenwash people to think that is smoke and debris!!!!
IT'S STEAM PEOPLE!
Water for cooling
Power plants need water for cooling. The bigger the plant, the more water. This will be built on the Clinch River. This area of Virginia has been in drought for a few years now. The Clinch is already at historic lows and it is only June. August will be worse.
Jobs are Jobs Kevin......
Coal plants provide stable jobs, revenue regardless of how many and how much $$. You can't argue that is a bad thing. And if you do, there's something wrong.
And the new plants coming online in many cases allow for older plants to be retired, accelerating efficiency and technology.
Face it.....coal is here, we need it and it's not going away. Both presidential candidates agree. You can talk yourself and develop these silly Web sites until you are blue in the face.
Even if you and all the other silly environmentalists succeed in blocking a plant here and there for no other reason that it uses coal, therefore drastically increasing the costs for our citizen, coal still plays a part in our country's electricity production.
Another question for you....
What is the environmentalist plan for stopping coal in China and India? China has already passed the US in emissions and is building older, less efficient plants every three weeks.
It's GLOBAL climate change.
Trying to bring down the US energy economy is not the answer. You still have nations all over the world not giving a squat about this right now and will laugh at you and your policy should you even try to spread the no coal message to their country.
It's time to stop saying we can do away with it, and instead agree we need to invest more in technology so we can use it better, then pass that technology on to other countries!
Jobs will be lost thanks to this plant
Jobs are jobs, very true. This plant will create 75 permanent jobs in southwest Virginia. 75 jobs, and all it will cost is mercury pumped into the water, sulfur pumped into the sky, and mountains destroyed!
HOWEVER, the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the body that gave Dominion one of its permits to build the plant, found that this plant will cause a net loss of 1,474 jobs in Virginia because Dominion plans to pass on the cost of constructing the $1.8 billion plant to its rate payers. So yes, jobs are jobs, but this plant will be a net job loser.
Greenpeace is WRONG again.
I, Nancy Pelosi think that Greenpeace is wrong again about coal - much like they were about nukes.
Nukes are the best way to generate power, and there is NO way around that.
Nancy.
Virginia's Carbon Capture
Virginia's Carbon Capture Ready Coal Plant a Global Warming Boondoggle This is best way to generate power
DornFall
Alavert
Bout time a state has the
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