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Politically Diverse Coalition Pushes Virginia To Create A Free Market For Energy

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The Virginia Energy Reform Coalition has brought together groups of various political affiliations to push for free-market alternatives to Dominion.

With the current divisions between political ideologies in America, the advent of a group like the Virginia Energy Reform Coalition (VERC) can be like a breath of fresh air. VERC is composed of several Virginia organizations of surprisingly varied political stances who have come together to try and put an end to the monopoly Dominion Energy has on Virginia’s electrical supply.

In 1999, Virginia attempted to deregulate the energy market and failed. Now 20 years later, we are seeing groups like the progressive Virginia Poverty Law Center teaming up with the likes of Ken Cuccinelli’s FreedomWorks Foundation to help create a competitive free market for energy in Virginia.

VERC consists of nine different organizations in all: Appalachian Voices, Clean Virginia, Earth Stewardship Alliance, FreedomWorks, Piedmont Environmental Council, R Street Institute, Reason Foundation, Virginia Institute for Public Policy, and Virginia Poverty Law Center.

Some of these groups are advocates for clean energy and clean government. Brennan Gilmore, the Executive Director at Clean Virginia, said that there have been a series of oversteps by Dominion that led to consumers dealing with higher prices and businesses not being able to compete in the commonwealth’s large energy market.

“People across the political spectrum have reacted in a very strong way,” said Gilmore. “It was a testament to just how far these utilities have abused their monopolies that allowed for this type of unprecedented coalition to be built.”

Though some of the groups may clash over other political issues, they agree on the topic at hand: that a free, competitive energy market would benefit all parties.

Ken Cuccinelli speaks at the press conference for the VERC launch. Photo courtesy Appalachian Voices

“I realized that working with folks who have different ideologies with you is actually pretty easy when you’re headed for the same goal,” said Lynn Taylor, the President of Virginia Institute for Public Policy (VIPP). Taylor pointed out that in 2018, according to an article in USA Today, Virginia had the eighth-highest electrical utility bills in the country. According to Taylor, if utilities were allowed to compete for customers, consumers and businesses would have options on the price they pay for electricity, ideally leading to lower prices.

“This is an area where I think transparency does not have a party, and doing the right thing and creating fairness in the system does not have a party,” said Dana Wiggins, director of Outreach and Consumer Advocacy at the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC). VPLC advocates for low-income Virginians, and adds a little more depth and diversity to the VERC.

According to Wiggins, the VPLC has put forth a proposal for a program to help low-income Virginians by implementing energy efficiency measures. Under VPLC’s plan, any Virginians paying more than 6 percent of their income towards electric bills would qualify for a program to cap their payments at 6 percent.

While a group like the VPLC might seem unlikely to make an alliance with high-profile Republican and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, this isn’t the first time the two have worked together. In 2017, Cuccinelli filed a legal brief on behalf of the VPLC, who were then challenging a law that had locked in Dominion and Appalachian Power Co.’s rates for five years to protect the utilities from costs associated with Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

Clearly the old saying really is true: politics makes strange bedfellows. But for the leaders of the organizations making up the VERC, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “In a time when politics and policy seems pretty hopelessly divided, it’s actually been really refreshing to cross that ideological threshold,” said Gilmore.

Top photo by Marco Sanchez, courtesy of Piedmont Environmental Council

Virginia Electric Utilities Wiring Rural Areas for Broadband

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Virginia lawmakers have taken steps to address geographic disparities in broadband coverage, giving utility companies the green light to provide broadband internet to unserved areas.

If you want internet service in the rural hamlet of Honaker, in far Southwest Virginia, Cable Plus is the only game in town. With internet speeds of 3 megabits per second, customers can go online to check their email, surf social media, and watch low-quality videos from streaming services, but not much else.

The cheapest Cable Plus internet package available to the 700 households in Honaker: $54 a month.

An hour away in Bristol, Virginia, residents have plenty of options to choose from for broadband. They can get high-speed service — with speeds of at least 25 Mbps — for as low as $45 a month.

The difference in internet services between urban and rural communities in Virginia is stark: Only 53 percent of rural Virginians have access to broadband internet. Urban areas have far better coverage — 96 percent, according to a 2016 study by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

That’s because internet providers profit more when their customer base is concentrated and easy to reach. In rural areas, it’s much more expensive per customer to provide high-speed internet.

Virginia lawmakers have taken steps to address geographic disparities in broadband coverage by passing a bill that will give the state’s two largest electric utilities, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, the green light to provide broadband internet service to unserved areas.

HB 2691, sponsored by Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Bristol, will create a pilot program that allows the electric utilities to expand “middle mile” broadband coverage — the infrastructure that connects the networks and core routers on the internet to local internet service providers that serve businesses and consumers directly.

The bill will allow each utility to spend up to $60 million annually on the pilot program. The companies will be able to recover that money from ratepayers.

Dominion and Appalachian Power won’t be providing high-speed internet straight to residents’ homes and businesses, however. The final connection, called the “last mile,” will be left to third-party internet providers. The last mile brings service to the end user’s premises and is typically the most expensive component of broadband infrastructure.

Nate Frost, director of new technology and energy conservation at Dominion Energy, said the program is “unconventional” for electric utilities but could help solve rural Virginia’s broadband woes.

“There’s a unique opportunity to potentially leverage some of the business that we’re going to be doing anyway,” Frost said. “But getting to that point won’t be easy.”

Under the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power must modernize their systems, and part of that involves bringing broadband to electrical substations to support new “smart” infrastructure initiatives.

The pilot program allows the electric utilities to add extra fiber optic cables to rural substations in addition to the fiber they’re already putting in place. That additional broadband capacity will then be leased to third-party internet providers, which will provide last-mile connections to homes and businesses nearby.

O’Quinn’s bill is awaiting Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature to become law.

Del. Israel O’Quinn

Evan Feinman, Northam’s chief broadband adviser, said earnings by electric utilities from leasing middle-mile infrastructure will result in lower electric bills over time and will save ratepayers an estimated $150 million over the next three years.

Those savings are based on Dominion’s 2018 Broadband Feasibility Report, in which the company outlined the potential for adding broadband capacity to rural areas.

“It’s one of those very rare win-wins where the electric companies, ratepayers and people in need of broadband service all benefit,” Feinman said.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously, but drew opposition from a few Republicans in the House of Delegates. Del. Kathy Byron, R-Bedford, voted against it.

“We’ve made great progress toward achieving this goal over the last several years,” said Byron, who chairs the state Broadband Advisory Council. “I’m concerned that the approach enacted by HB 2691 might unintentionally divert or detract from our well-established and successful efforts.”

Over the last few years, the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative has provided millions of dollars to broadband service providers to extend their service into rural areas. During its recent session, the General Assembly increased funding for the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative for the 2020 fiscal year from $4 million to $19 million.

Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun, also voted against O’Quinn’s bill, citing the increased costs to ratepayers.

“This is a perversion of the system where the State Corporation Commission has the authority to set reasonable rates and to return ratepayer money that exceeds reasonable rates,” LaRock said.

It’s not unprecedented for electric utilities to provide internet services in Virginia. Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, which serves rural areas in 14 counties, announced its own broadband expansion in January 2018. The $110 million project aims to provide internet and phone service directly to consumers through a subsidiary company called Firefly Broadband.

Virginia has the fifth-highest rate of broadband adoption in the nation and ranks among the top 10 states in terms of its average peak internet connectivity speed, according to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Up to 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic flows through Northern Virginia.

But state officials have been concerned about the lack of broadband in rural areas, saying such connectivity is critical to economic development. Northam has made broadband expansion a priority, proposing that the state spend $250 million over the next 10 years to address the unequal distribution of internet service.

“Broadband internet is inarguably a necessity for participation in a 21st-century economy, and many Virginians have been left without quality access for far too long,” Northam said. “By ending this disconnect, we can better attract and support business and entrepreneurship, educate all Virginia students and expand access to cost-saving telehealth services.”

By Daniel Berti, Capital News Service. Top photo by Sara Wheeler

Al Gore Calls Atlantic Coast Pipeline ‘Reckless, Racist Ripoff’

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They sang songs of resilience, held hands and promised to continue fighting for environmental justice.

That was the scene Tuesday night in a middle school gymnasium where more than 700 people gathered to hear former Vice President Al Gore and a prominent civil rights leader, the Rev. William Barber II, draw connections between poverty, racism, and ecological devastation in denouncing plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Gore and Barber said the construction of a compressor station for the ACP in Union Hill would severely harm residents of that predominantly African-American community founded by former slaves after the Civil War in Buckingham County, about 70 miles west of Richmond.

Dominion Energy says the compressor station is a necessary component of the natural gas pipeline, which would run 600 miles through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

“Historic Union Hill is the wrong place to build the compressor station,” said Mary Finley-Brook, a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. In August, the advisory council wrote a 12-page letter to Gov. Ralph Northam, urging him to suspend the air quality permit for the compressor station. Industries that emit pollutants are required to get such permits to ensure that the emissions don’t harm humans or deteriorate clean air.

Audience members show solidarity for racial injustices they say the pipeline would cause. (CNS photo by Katja Timm)

The council said the “potential future impacts are likely to be felt most severely by our poor, minority and marginalized communities and community members.”

At Tuesday’s rally, singer Yara Allen led the crowd in songs of justice in the gym of Buckingham County Middle School. Barber, a Protestant minister from North Carolina and a member of the national board of the NAACP, then delivered a passionate speech, calling the construction of the pipeline a moral wrongdoing that disproportionately targets poor minority communities.

“When God said, ‘Let them have dominion over the land,’ he was not talking about the company,” said Barber, drawing laughter from the audience.

Barber said there is a reason why these types of projects are not located in affluent communities.

“It’s systematic,” he said. “They target poor white folk in Appalachia, poor Native American communities — poor, poor, poor.”

Barber said more African-American political leaders should have been at the event, and he condemned Northam for supporting the pipeline.

“If the pipeline is so good, request it to be in your backyard,” Barber said.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber II delivers passionate speech, drawing applause from former Vice President Al Gore. (CNS photo by Katja Timm)

Residents of Union Hill also spoke at the rally, saying the construction of the pipeline and compressor station would devastate land that is deeply valued and personal to them.

Richard Walker, CEO of Bridging the Gap in Virginia, an organization that helps people released from incarceration, said the compressor station would run through land that has been passed down through several generations of his family.

“Somebody is hurting my family, and I’m not going to allow it,” Walker said repeatedly, drawing applause from the audience. “I’m not going to allow Dominion to deny [my family] their inheritance.”

Residents said the properties in Union Hill are a fundamental economic resource.

“For most of us, our property is the most valuable thing we have in terms of dollars,” said Irene Leech of Mt. Rush Farm in Buckingham.

Leech, who raises cattle and teaches at Virginia Tech, said that landowners would have limited use of their property if the pipeline were built and that it would potentially tear through structures created by her grandfather.

The event drew to a close with a speech from Gore, who called the pipeline a “reckless, racist rip-off.”

Gore said he never saw a more vivid example of environmental racism.

“This pipeline should be canceled,” Gore said. “It is an environmental injustice, and it’s not too much to say environmental racism is located in this historically black community.”

Dominion and other companies involved in the ACP say that they are “good corporate citizens” and that they have “engaged extensively and meaningfully” over the past several years with resident of Buckingham County and Union Hill.


Banners for the event hanging in Buckingham County Middle School gym. (CNS photo by Katja Timm)

“Working together with the residents of Union Hill, we are committing to invest $5.1 million in a series of community revitalization and public safety initiatives, including the development of a new community center and outdoor recreation area,” the companies state on a website promoting the project.

The site says the benefits of the pipeline include “thousands of new jobs, lower energy costs, new industries and millions in new tax revenue for local governments — all while improving air quality and paving the way for more renewables.”

Many public officials support the ACP. Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, said the pipeline is “absolutely critical to the economic future of Hampton Roads and the environmental health of our entire region.”

Written by Maryum Elnasseh and Katja Timm, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Katja Timm.

Governor Calls Bipartisan Effort to Clean Coal Ash ‘Historic’

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Virginians could see an additional $5 charge on their power bills after Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox and a bipartisan group of legislators announced an agreement Thursday to clean up large ponds of toxic coal ash throughout the state.

The $3 billion plan is to remove coal ash — the residue from power plants — from sites near Virginia’s waterways within 15 years. Democratic Sens. Scott Surovell of Fairfax and Amanda Chase of Chesterfield began the team effort to address the problem three years ago. Chase, Surovell and Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, are sponsoring legislation to close the coal ash sites, clean them up and prohibit further construction.

Surovell’s Senate Bill 1533 specifically targets the ponds in Prince William, Chesterfield  Fluvanna counties and the city of Chesapeake. Dominion Energy, which operated the coal-fired power plants responsible for the ash, would pass along the cost of the cleanup to customers. The company would be required to use local labor and resources when practical to remove the material.

Chase has filed two bills — SB 1009 and SB 1743 — prohibiting coal ash ponds in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and requiring the closure of existing ponds. She said she is excited to work with her colleagues to solve this problem.

“Clean water is a bipartisan issue,” Chase said. “If you think of the cost of cancer and compare it to $5 a month, that’s nothing.”

If the legislation becomes law, that amount would begin appearing on Dominion customers’ bills starting in 2021.

Virginia has been storing coal ash in ponds since the 1930s. Dominion Energy’s website states that it has 11 coal ash ponds and six coal ash landfills totaling about 27 million cubic yards of coal ash statewide. The plan requires the power company to recycle a minimum of 7 million tons by the 15-year mark.

In a statement, Dominion Energy representative Dan Genest said the company “supports the comprehensive agreement reached by the Governor, legislative leaders, and members of the General Assembly that accomplishes clean closure, minimizes truck traffic, and prudently manages customer costs for the closing of ash ponds at our power stations.”

Northam described the bipartisan agreement as historic and said the plan is a breakthrough in protecting the people and environment of Virginia.

“Our effort will ensure we are disposing of coal ash in the safest, most environmentally responsible way. As they exist now, we run the risk that they could contaminate the drinking water supply, our tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay,” the governor said. “I think the environmental impact far outweighs those costs.”

Northam said 25 percent of the coal ash must be recycled into concrete, asphalt, or other construction materials. Coal ash that isn’t recycled would be moved to landfills certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or into modern pits at the site of power plants whose lining will prevent contamination.

Democratic Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy lives near the Possum Point Power Station, which has four coal ash ponds, in Prince William County. She said she commends her colleagues, constituents and the power company for compromising on a solution.

“Coal ash is something that’s very personal to me, having Dominion’s coal ash pond in my backyard,” Foy said. “Arsenic, lead and mercury needed to be removed from the community so it would not disturb and have poison in our playgrounds and lead in our water.”

The bills addressing the issue have been referred to the Coal Ash Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor.

By Kathleen Shaw, Capital News Service. Photo via CNS

Debate Around Coal Ash Heats Up As General Assembly Considers Environmental Legislation

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In the wake of debates about the toxic byproducts of coal, local power plants are taking the heat — and local government is taking a stand through legislation.

Coal ash, the toxic byproduct of its namesake energy source, has been at the forefront of recent environmental debates, despite the deep roots of the problem. What historically served as a lifeline of income for people during the early 20th century has cramped the style of modern-day energy gurus such as Dominion Energy.

Chesterfield Power Station, owned by Dominion, stores 15 million tons of coal ash on its property. The close proximity of their coal ash waste ponds to the James River has caused concern from environmental organizations that a severe flooding event could send the ash spilling into the river, according to a recent RVA Mag article.

Coal ash was classified in 2016 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a “significant hazard,” one that could lead to economic loss, environmental damage, and disruption of lifeline facilities in the areas near the coal ash ponds.

The Virginia General Assembly appears to be addressing this “significant hazard” on Dominion Energy’s property through the introduction of a bill that would require the excavation of coal ash stored in the company’s ponds across the state.

Attempting to find a solution, Sen. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) introduced a bill, SB 1533, that would require Dominion to remove 27 million cubic yards of coal ash, recycle and haul the remains to landfills. Although the bill is at an early stage, currently being considered by the Senate Finance Committee, it has already been backed by Gov. Ralph Northam.

Recycled coal ash can be used in a variety of ways — primarily as a substitute for the creation concrete and plaster-like materials.

“The reality of coal ash is that we use it to make products every day,” Surovell told the committee, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We have this thing sitting in our state that is polluting groundwater, and we can use it to make good Virginia products, create some jobs, and clean up the environment while we’re at it.”

Surovell’s bill would also hold companies like Dominion accountable for the project’s upkeep. The bill requires the owner or operator to submit two annual reports, the bill summary states. The reports would include closure plans, progress, water monitoring results, and beneficial reuse proposals.

The biggest challenge this bill will face is its financing. The project would be paid for by the 2.5 million Dominion ratepayers, which, according to an estimate by State Corporation Commission Deputy Director Patrick Carr, reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, could result in an increase of as much as $3.30 per month on individual customers’ utility bills.

With a short session this year, the pressure will be on to get the bill to pass before mid-February. If little is done to prevent the growth of coal ash within the state, air, water, and ground pollution could become a ordeal, as unlined ash ponds will continue to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater.

“We can’t allow Dominion to cap 30 million tons of toxic coal ash along the banks of Virginia’s rivers and just leave it there indefinitely,” Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks told RVA Mag. “At some point it will continue to cause more problems, and has already caused documented 30 years of groundwater contamination.”

Chesterfield Coal Ash Ponds Under Scrutiny After Brutal Hurricane Season

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Chesterfield Power Station stores 15 million tons of coal ash on its premises, and environmental groups are worried about it. The coal ash’s close proximity to the James River has caused concern among environmental organizations that a severe flooding event could send the ash spilling into the river. The ash ponds are located less than a half-mile from the riverbank, and only several hundred yards from Dutch Gap Conservation Area, a popular walking and kayaking destination.

According to environmental activist and Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, the power station’s ash ponds aren’t prepared for the type of flooding seen during Hurricane Florence, which caused an estimated 17 billion dollars in damage and wreaked havoc on North Carolina’s rivers last September.

“Older coal ash ponds, like the lower ash pond at Chesterfield Power Station, are at serious risk of breaching and flooding from hurricane events,” Naujoks said. “Anytime [the James River] floods, water is going to go right to that area.”

North Carolina experienced just such an event during Hurricane Florence when a coal ash landfill at Sutton Power Station in North Carolina was breached by floodwaters, and released 2,000 cubic yards of toxic ash into nearby Sutton Lake and the Cape Fear River. The spill has brought renewed attention to the stability of Virginia’s coal ash ponds.

Chesterfield Power Station has two coal ash ponds on site, as well as newly constructed dry ash landfill. Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Nate Benforado said that the ash pond’s aren’t equipped for severe weather, and expressed concern at the power station’s ability to prevent an ash spill.

“Chesterfield is one of the sites we are very concerned with when it comes to flood risk,” Benforado said. “It’s surrounded by water and marshy areas and could very easily flood, and the fact that it’s basically constructed in an active river system is also very concerning.”

The lower coal ash pond at Chesterfield Power Station was built in 1964 and contains two million tons of coal ash. It was classified in 2016 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a “significant hazard.”

A “significant” hazard rating indicates that, in the event of a dam failure or misoperation, there would be economic loss, environmental damage, and disruption of lifeline facilities, including power and water services, in the areas surrounding the coal ash ponds.

The remaining 13 million tons of coal ash are stored at the power station’s upper ash pond. The EPA determined that the upper ash pond’s hazard potential was not significant.

A representative of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) downplayed the possibility of a coal ash spill at the site. According to the DEQ, both ponds at the power plant “should have had plenty of capacity for a rain event, such as a hurricane.”

Dominion Energy, who owns and operates Chesterfield Power Station, is in the process of closing 11 coal ash ponds across four sites in Virginia. Many of the coal ash ponds will be capped in place, including Chesterfield’s lower ash pond.

According to Dominion’s website, the capping procedure involves “removing, treating, and testing the water stored in the ponds, stabilizing the ash material, and installing a protective, multilayer impermeable cover system, topped with two feet of soil and grass.”

Environmental organizations have scrutinized Dominion’s decision to leave the coal ash in place, saying that the unlined ash ponds will continue to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater after they’ve been closed.

“We can’t allow Dominion to cap 30 million tons of toxic coal ash along the banks of Virginia’s rivers and just leave it there indefinitely,” Naujoks said. “At some point it will continue to cause more problems, and has already caused documented 30 years of groundwater contamination.”

In March 2018, Dominion began releasing groundwater reports for the coal ash ponds at Chesterfield Power Station, as required by EPA regulations. According to SELC, the reports showed that ten of the wells at the site exceeded the allowable limit for arsenic, in some cases as high as 17 times the limit. Dominion’s data also showed high levels of chemicals like boron and chlorides in the groundwater at Chesterfield Power Station. These reports were online as recently as last month, but Dominion’s website now has a dead link where they once were.

“We found arsenic at incredibly high levels, 282 parts per million right here, which is higher than many Superfund sites that have really bad pollution problems,” Benforado told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2017. According to the EPA, the presence of these chemicals at these levels are among the indicators that coal ash pollutants are seeping into the groundwater in the surrounding area.

“The evidence is very clear that the coal ash ponds at Chesterfield Power Station are leaking into the adjacent waterways,” Benforado said.

A 2017 report issued by researchers at the University of New Hampshire found that recycling Virginia’s coal ash for use in concrete manufacturing is a cost-effective alternative to capping the existing ponds, and would substantially reduce the environmental impact of the ponds on the surrounding ecosystems. Dominion Energy hasn’t offered any alternatives to its current plan, however.

“Dominion wants to leave its coal ash on the banks of rivers where it will continue to threaten our rivers and drinking water supplies,” Naujoks said. “Even if it’s capped we’ll still be at risk of flooding, and it will continue to leak because it will stay in these unlined pits.”

Photos via Southwings