Dominion moves location for proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After months of speculation, Dominion recently alerted Chesterfield County residents that it plans to build the proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC) at its existing Chesterfield Power Station site at Coxendale Road.
It originally proposed building at the existing James River Industrial Center.
In the letter, Dominion claims the decision is the right one for various reasons, including that building on the existing site will limit construction and minimize impacts to wetlands and cultural resources.
Nicole Martin, president of the Chesterfield County branch of the NAACP, has been closely following the issue and said Dominion made the decision without community input and is still operating outside of the realm of providing adequate information to the communities that will be impacted. Additionally, per the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Dominion Energy Viriginia is required to produce their electricity from 100 percent renewable sources by 2045. Building a new methane gas plant directly violates this law that was passed in 2020.
“Dominion’s decision-making thus far has taken place in back rooms with little to no input from community members that have to live with pollution from this facility every day. How it has handled this is not good. It’s unethical. It gets to the heart of how environmental injustice starts and persists – locking people and communities out of decisions that greatly impact all aspects of their lives,” she said.
Dominion isn’t the only entity being held accountable. Friends of Chesterfield continues to call on the Board of Supervisor to hold a hearing related to the determination of site suitability.
Dominion has announced a series of three open houses in September during which the public will be able to ask its project team questions.
“It is disappointing that Dominion continues to disregard the health and environmental well-being of the communities living closest to its existing power plant, instead highlighting jobs and tax revenue as though monetary advances for some equate to community wellness for all,” said Rachel James, a staff attorney in the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Virginia office. “All across the state, communities like Chesterfield are in this David versus Goliath fight with the monopoly utilities. The power gap is only widened when you have a situation where community members are not getting adequate information about all of the impacts associated with Dominion’s power generation decisions .”
View our fact sheet on public health impacts of the power plant.
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