Apr 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Cory Nealon Daily Press, Newport News, Va.


By and large, opponents of a coal-fired power plant proposed in Surry County have focused their attention south of the James River.

That is, after all, where the bulk of the plant's toxic emissions would come to rest. But the pollutants -- mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, among others -- would also reach Williamsburg, Newport News and other Peninsula communities.

That's why the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club hosted a meeting about the plant and its effects Wednesday at the Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton.

"This is going to affect you and your kids, too," said Helen Eggleston, a lifelong resident of Dendron, the town of about 300 where the power plant might be built.

 Eggleston was joined by a handful of speakers, including Patti Gray of the Williamsburg Climate Action Network, before a quiet but receptive crowd of about 40.

The meeting contrasted with those held in Surry during the past 15 months since Old Dominion Electric Cooperative made public its plans to build the plant. Dendron and Surry lawmakers approved land-use permits for the facility, but residents remain bitterly divided over the issue.

The idea behind Wednesday's meeting, according to event organizer Tyla Matteson, was to inform Peninsula residents how the 1,500-megawatt plant would affect them. Pollutants will cause an increase in health problems, everything from asthma to cancer, Gray said. They also will hurt the region's tourism industry, agriculture, fishing and property values, she said.

Although ODEC representatives were not at the meeting, they have said the plant, if approved by state and federal agencies, would meet current pollution standards.

The plant is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Dendron residents who accuse town lawmakers of not properly notifying the public about the land-use permits. ODEC and the town have asked a Surry Circuit Court judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

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