Power Play
Sunday's Times-Dispatch carried a thorough presentation of the debate over the Cypress Creek power plant that has been proposed for Surry County. The coal-fired facility would generate badly needed electricity and provided badly needed jobs. It also would produce huge amounts of pollution.
The state plainly will need more juice. In the next couple of decades the state's population likely will grow from 7 million to 10 million, and the number of homes will increase by about 1 million. Even if Virginia adopts stringent conservation measures, current production will not suffice to meet demand.
Nor will the alternative sources of energy much touted by the new administration in Washington. Cypress Creek would boast a capacity of 1,500 megawatts. The 19 windmills proposed by Highland Wind Development, by contrast, would generate no more than 39 megawatts, or less than 3 percent of Cypress Creek's output, at peak capacity. And they would be useless when the wind is not blowing.
Yet vocal opposition has met the windmill proposal, just as it has met Dominion's proposal to build a coal-fired power plant in Wise, and -- a couple of years ago -- the high-voltage transmission lines Dominion proposed to prevent blackouts in Northern Virginia. Opposition also has confronted Dominion's desire to build a third reactor at its North Anna nuclear power station.
Too often, both environmentalists and energy advocates portray the issue as either/or. We prefer, and long have advocated, a both/and approach. Conservation is critical. Although economic growth and energy consumption have long moved in tandem, the two lines on the graph have begun to decouple. It is possible for the economy to grow faster than energy use does, and the more that can be done to make that happen, the better.
Alternative energy should be pursued, but not as if it were the Holy Grail -- because it almost certainly won't be. Solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources can help, but they can't solve the problem alone. At present, nuclear energy holds the biggest potential for non-carbon energy generation. But nuclear power, of which the country needs a great deal more, also will not suffice alone. Both this state and the nation need to pursue all those alternatives simultaneously.
Even with increased emphasis on conservation, renewables, and nuclear power, for the next decade or two Virginia -- like the rest of the nation -- is going to need more power from fossil fuels, including coal. Cypress Creek probably will have to be part of that mix.
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