Letters To The Editor: Wise County Plant Isn’t Necessary

Wise County Plant Isn't Necessary
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Although the news article, "New Permit for Coal-Fired Power Plant Pleases Both Sides," quotes Dominion Virginia Power as claiming that the Wise County coal plant is vital to meeting Virginia's future energy needs, the opposite is true.

An independent study found that Virginia can meet all of its expected energy demand for the next 15 years simply by investing in cost-effective and existing energy-efficiency technologies. We can avoid constructing any new generation facilities just by weatherizing homes, upgrading heating and cooling systems in office buildings, and updating lighting in factories. These same technologies would bring 10,000 new jobs to the commonwealth, while the costs associated with the coal plant would actually force the Virginia economy to contract by move than 1,400 jobs (a conservative estimate given pending climate legislation).

Dominion's claim that its coal plant will help the economic wellbeing of Southwest Virginia also misses the mark. Our reliance on coal allows for the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, which is ravaging Southwest Virginia. Tops are ripped off mountains, streams are blocked by waste, and then the coal is transported out of the community, suffocating people with the toxic dust that blows off coal trucks.

The alternatives to coal are real. The new energy future broke ground in Virginia last month when construction began on our very first wind farm in Highland County. This project makes Virginia a leader in the region and marks the beginning of a bright future for the commonwealth. Virginia has incredible renewable energy potential -- our offshore wind potential is the highest in the South. When coupled with efficiency improvements, it is clear that coal plants could be a thing of the past. Lauren Glickman, Virginia Campaign Coordinator, Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

Richmond.

President's Speech Was Only to Inspire Students
Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Educational leaders and school boards in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Powhatan, and the cities of Colonial Heights and Petersburg, must feel like a bunch of lunkheads and jerks. If not, they ought to, for caving in to a small minority of parents and preventing their students from watching the original broadcast of President Barack Obama's address -- thus depriving them of an encouraging, inspirational, and thought-provoking speech. Far from brainwashing America's youth, the address was a bedrock of wisdom and goodwill.

When President John F. Kennedy gave his Inaugural Address in 1961, my family was living in Verona, Italy, where my father was stationed. The American school for dependents we all attended televised the event (a day later), and it still echoes in my consciousness and inspires me to do better every day.

That was simply the essence of Obama's speech. Such a shame that some school-age kids today were not given the privilege and likewise advantage of the same courtesy.

Robert Schultz.
Richmond.

As the debate about health care reform rages on, one thing is certain: Certified home health agencies are being unfairly targeted as a source of funding for the proposed health reform plan. The fact that the proposed government plan will cut 18 percent of the current Medicare payments for home health care in the next three years is disturbing enough. The Center for Medicare Services (CMS) has already required home health agencies to fund the cost of additional third-party contractors to survey satisfaction or face a penalty of 2 percent of an agency's earned payment.

This satisfaction survey requirement is in addition to all the certifications agencies must have through the state and Medicare. It applies even to those agencies that have gone above and beyond Medicare's requirements to achieve membership in stringent organizations such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Community Health and Program Services, which require rigorous steps, as well as money, to give them the elevated status that is revered by the medical community. Apparently this isn't enough for CMS.

In addition to the audit costs and employee time, CMS has embarked on a crusade to collect money from past payments from Medicare to home health agencies. This will cost home health agencies approximately $40,000 per year, and countless hours of employee time just for medical information gathering. These past payment reviews are called RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor) audits and are yet another obstacle to focusing on the primary concern of a home health agency -- the patient.

It is estimated that in one year 41 percent of Richmond-area home health agencies will have a negative profit margin, and by the end of 2011 that number will increase to 63 percent if they must endure these costs. The number of agencies for Virginians to choose from will be drastically reduced. These hurdles are not only obstacles to running a private business, they are another example of the bureaucracy that plagues our health care system. They threaten the very organizations (home health agencies) that offer a solution to skyrocketing costs of lengthy hospital stays, allowing patients to stay in their own homes. Ed Kassab, CEO, At Home Care. Richmond.