"I want Virginia to have the cleanest coal in the country. That should be our goal", gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe told folks in Lebanon, an area nearby a proposed mega coal plant just 18 miles from Colonial Williamsburg in Hampton Roads.
Earlier on a local talk show, McAuliffe said "Listen, I want clean coal. We all want clean coal. We have this new technology called CCS -- carbon capture and storage".
"But I'll be honest with you. Before I am going to shut anything down, that's 2200 jobs that we have in Surry. And before I would ever cost people their jobs, I need to make sure I have a job for them. And I'm not going to say we're not going to do it until I can say we have 2200 jobs in the green alternative energy area. People need jobs. They got to take care of their children, they need health care... And I'm not going to throw 2200 folks out on the street."
Yet in his Daily Kos post 2 days ago comes this:
"The plant in Surry is still just an idea at this point and I plan on taking a harder look at the specifics of the proposal - including what type of technology is going to be used - and hear from all of the folks with a stake in the outcome. But if a new coal plant is built, it should be as clean as possible - and from my understanding, the one being proposed for Surry County does not meet that standard."
Poof! Magically disappearing are 2200 jobs at this wonderful new "clean coal" plant that McAuliffe promised the folks in the Surry area. Thrown "out on the street" are 2200 folks, which is curious considering that these jobs are today completely non-existent!
What kind of fools does McAuliffe take us in Hampton Roads for?
The reality is that the "clean coal" technology that McAuliffe touts is well over 15 years away. Bulldozers will be turning soil in Surry long before that will ever happen and over 10 million tons a year of carbon emissions will soon spew into our Hampton Roads' air. Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is gunning for it fast, hoping to get as many hapless investors on board to finance their $6 billion plant ahead of any global warming cap and trade legislation that could dampen their McAuliffe-esque (fed) enthusiasm.
And 2200 jobs? Where the hell does that number come from? Yes, Dominion's dirty coal plant in Wise County, that only spews 5.4 million tons of global warming pollution, is about 3 times smaller than what's proposed at Surry. After construction, Dominion will employ 75 coal plant workers. So for Surry, one could multiply 75 times 3. That equals 225 workers.
Oh, so maybe the remaining 975 jobs that McAuliffe talks about will get to work developing that ol' "clean coal" stuff there in Surry, and work to fulfill his trumpeted goal of Virginia having "the cleanest coal in the country". Hot diggity!
What's that you say? There are no mountains in Surry to blow up in pursuit of coal? No valleys to dump waste in like they do so rampantly in Wise County VA? The coal used for any R&D on carbon capture and storage has to be shipped into our area, you say? And what? You're going to inject the carbon pollution into our sandy Tidewater soils? And is that scrubbed or unscrubbed coal we're studying? Gotta know if we need to construct any sludge ponds near our Chesapeake Bay. And ODEC is going to do all that? Gosh, who would have guessed developing "clean coal" was in the business plan of this relatively small private electric co-op. Has the Virginia General Assembly suddenly envisioned Surry to be the "Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center Part Two"? I don't remember seeing that in Virginia's 2007 Energy Plan. Strange...
Surry is approximately 60 miles from Virginia Beach, where offshore wind energy could be developed and online as early as 2011. Think of how many wind turbines the $6 billion that ODEC otherwise will spend on a dirty coal plant will buy. Know too that reports indicated a multiple greater number of jobs are created to support renewable energy development like offshore wind, over jobs created to produce energy from dirty fossil fuels. I’m not a business man as McAuliffe portends to be, but I’m thinking it makes way better business sense to somehow get ODEC investing that $6 billion perhaps a little differently. McAuliffe talks about being so clever yet he blows it by choosing coal over renewable energy as he does with Surry.
For renewable energy to make it in Virginia, we are going to need a forward thinking Governor. Anybody thinking that ANY part of our energy future lies with adding new and extremely costly coal plants, clean or unclean, and all its supporting mountaintop removal and coal ash sludge ponds, is absolutely nuts! And anybody promising thousands of pie-in-the-sky jobs is certifiable.
Brian Moran’s mantra for the "Green Virginia" plan that he released in early February is ""We can't solve 21st century problems with 19th century fossil fuels". "Not on my watch as Governor" he says of the Surry mega coal plant, choosing instead to support the thousands of real jobs and clean energy provided from renewable sources, especially the 25% of the Commonwealth’s demand from offshore wind off Virginia Beach located again just a mere 60 miles away.