A trip to the Chesterfield Power Station

The following blog was written by one of our Summer 2017 interns. For more information about our internships, visit our internship page here.

It has been a few months since I joined the Sierra Club as an Intern.  As a native of Charlottesville and a former student at William and Mary, the subjects the Virginia chapter’s work have not come as a surprise-Dominion, pipelines, the James River, etc.  But studying Environmental Design in college, I have always focused more on design and the material resources that affect our environment.  And so wearing a legislative lens in viewing environmentalism has been a somewhat new experience for me.  I think what has struck me the most has been the degree to which Dominion shapes legislation, and last week I was given the opportunity to see a physical manifestation of this influence.  I joined a group outing led by Glen, to kayak and see the largest coal burning power plant in Virginia: the Chesterfield Power Station.  

It is not difficult to believe that the behemoth of pipes, ducts, and chimneys that is the power station pollutes so much, yet the numbers are still staggering. The Chesterfield Power Station burns 8,400 tons of coal every day and had two coal ash ponds that are estimated to contain 13 million tons of coal ash.  After seeing all the smoke and ash that is produced and put in a landfill in Chesterfield, it’s all the more frightening to hear how coal has reentered the national conversation as a means to economic and energy security. There is no perfect solution to our energy needs, but coal is clearly worst of our options for the environment.  But beyond the environmental impacts, coal as an investment is only getting worse and worse.      

So why Virginia, are we not investing more in renewable energy?  As a state that went in favor of Hillary Clinton, it’s clear that we are not only ready but we are excited about the idea of protecting our environment.  I’m optimistic that Virginians care for our state and want to prioritize the environment, but corporate interests are still tethering our push for progress.  We need to remind our representatives that they work for what Virginians want, not Dominion.  Virginia is beautiful from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, and I want to keep it that way.