October 9, 2009
Press Release

CBF Report Finds Surry Coal-Fired Power Plant Would Increase Mercury, Nitrogen Pollution Across Virginia

Many of these waters are already deemed "impaired," or polluted, by state and federal governments, and some of them are so contaminated by high levels of mercury they carry Health Department fish consumption warnings.

"Our report confirms that the Old Dominion Electric Co-operative (ODEC) plant in Surry would add significantly more pollution to Virginia's waterways, compounding existing water quality problems and posing further risks to the environment, citizens, and the economy," said CBF President William C. Baker. "That is why we are calling on state and federal authorities to prohibit this new pollution source."

The expert analysis estimated that the plant, even using stringent pollution controls, would dump these additional amounts of mercury into nearby river basins:

Mercury is toxic to wildlife and to humans, posing special threats to fetuses, young children, and pregnant women. Mercury can affect learning ability, language, motor skills, and at high levels cause permanent brain damage.

"A small amount of mercury can do a lot of damage in an aquatic ecosystem," said Dr. Daniel A. Cristol, professor of biology at the College of William and Mary. "Mercury concentrates at the top of the food chain, in fish, birds, and people, and it persists because it recycles through the food chain over and over again."

The CBF report, by air-modeling specialist Dr. H. Andrew Gray, used U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved air pollution computer modeling to estimate the amount of mercury, nitrogen, and other pollutants that would fall from the plant onto the land and water across Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay region. The analysis was based upon data provided by ODEC to Virginia environmental officials and reflects the use of what ODEC says are the best available pollution controls and the maximum achievable pollution controls.

Approximately 1,300 miles of Virginia rivers and nearly 40,000 acres of Virginia lakes already are contaminated by mercury, including the Meherrin River, parts of the Nottoway, Blackwater, Mattaponi, and Pamunkey rivers, Dragon Run, Lake Drummond, Lake Whitehurst, Lake Trashmore, Chickahominy Lake, and Harrison Lake. Many of these river basins are considered "mercury sensitive" by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality because of their slow moving, swamp-like ecology, flora, and fauna.

"The mercury from this plant would be going to many places that are conducive to methylation, the process whereby the mercury is converted into a form that gets into the food chain," said Dr. Michael C. Newman, marine science professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "Once in the food chain, the mercury biomagnifies, increasing in concentrations as it makes its way up to top predators. Its magnification is similar to the way compound interest works in a savings account – a small amount deposited grows to become very, very significant."

Brian van Eerden, director of The Nature Conservancy's Southern Rivers Program in Virginia, said, "Some of Virginia's most important natural areas, such as the Chesapeake Bay, Dragon Run, Blackwater River, and Dismal Swamp, fall within the pollutant deposition area characterized in the report. We hope that CBF's study will help stakeholders understand that though these places seem remote and well protected, emissions from the proposed power station will reach them. The soils and water chemistry that make these waterways and wetlands so unique are also the same features that make them extremely vulnerable to pollutants such as mercury. The broad geographic scope and potential irreversibility of impacts underscores the need for rigorous environmental review by the agencies involved in the permitting process."

CBF's report also found that the proposed plant would add significantly more illegal nitrogen pollution to the Bay and Virginia rivers. The analysis found the plant would add 118.2 more tons of nitrogen annually to the Bay watershed and, for example, 29 more tons of nitrogen to the James River basin each year. That is comparable to adding another new large sewage treatment plant to the Bay watershed.

Nitrogen pollution is a chief cause of the massive algal blooms and "dead zones" that appear annually in Hampton Roads and the Chesapeake Bay, threatening fish, crabs, and oysters and crippling the state's seafood industry. Reducing nitrogen pollution has been a primary goal of the federal-state Bay cleanup for decades, and Virginia alone has appropriated nearly a billion tax dollars in recent years to reduce nitrogen pollution in state waters.
The CBF report also estimated the amount of sulfur and particulate matter (soot) from the proposed plant that would fall annually onto the Bay watershed, onto Virginia, and onto specific Virginia river basins:

Sulfur pollution contributes to hazy air, lung problems, and acid rain that damages streams and rivers. Particulate matter from coal-fired power plants is linked to asthma attacks, strokes, heart attacks, and premature deaths.

"The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's expert analysis provides yet another piece of critical evidence demonstrating why building Virginia's largest coal-fired power plant right in Hampton Roads is such a bad idea," said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

"Virginia, her partner Bay states, and EPA have made it a top priority to reduce pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and our rivers," Baker noted. "Sanctioning another new pollution source such as the ODEC plant not only is illogical but illegal. We call on Virginia and EPA to deny all environmental permits for the proposed plant unless ODEC can demonstrate the plant will add no more pollution to the Chesapeake Bay."

CBF Virginia Executive Director Ann F. Jennings added that less environmentally damaging alternatives to providing electricity to customers exist, noting that the 2007 Virginia Energy Plan concluded that energy efficiency and conservation measures can provide the quickest, most cost-effective ways to meet Virginia's future energy needs. The Energy Plan also concluded that Virginia has enough untapped renewable energy resources, including wind, tidal, solar, biomass, municipal solid waste, and others, to develop nearly 44,000 megawatts of new electricity.

A copy of the CBF report by Dr. Gray can be downloaded at www.cbf.org/mercury.