Kingston Coal Ash Sludge Spill Over a Billion Gallons: Time to Take a Hard Look at the Coal Industry

Richard Graves at the wonderful blog It's Getting Hot In Here has an excellent update on the coal ash spill in Tennessee, which, as his title states, is now known to be A BILLION GALLONS.

Numbers aside, it is impossible to really comprehend the scale of the disaster in words - this is a very dramatic example of how our consumption and reliance on coal is quite literally reshaping our world. Whether by flooding 400 acres of beautiful Tennessee valleys and rivers with six feet of coal ash, or blowing the tops off of literally hundreds of mountains in Appalachia, or changing the global climate itself through massive releases of carbon dioxide - the coal industry has perhaps the greatest impact of any industry in the world - yet we barely know it. Coal plants intake almost 20% of the United States’ freshwater, uses almost half of our freight railroad capacity, and leaves behind scarred landscapes, poor and exploited communities, [and] kills vulnerable people.

How many such ponds does Virginia Dominion Power (aka Dominion, aka Dominion Resources) have in Virginia? Where are they located, and how much toxic coal sludge do they contain? I wrote to Dominion last week to ask these questions. Still no reply. Could there be ash ponds in Virginia with a billion gallons of sludge? Who knows?

Rainforest Action Network asks Dominion CEO Tough Questions

This dates back to September 15, 2008, the same day that RAN activists also staged a protest at the site of the planned Wise County coal burning plant in southwestern VA (where one quarter of the county has already been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining). It's no longer new, but it's good, and matches exactly my view that the CEOs of the big utilities should be confronted and held personally responsible for the actions of their firms. Especially when -- as with Thomas F. Farrell II -- they hold all the power in the firm (he is chairman of the board, president, AND CEO!).

Watch and enjoy

In the Wake of Roane Country, Let’s Ask Dominion Resources About Its Ash Ponds

The NYT today reported today that the Roane County, Tennessee, Coal Ash Spill is Much Larger than Initially Estimated . Shaila Dewan reports that the new estimate of 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic waste—enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep—is more than twice the amount that the Tennessee Valley Authority had initially said that the pond contained.

Authority officials offered little explanation for the discrepancy, telling reporters that the initial number was an estimate based on their information at the time. The aerial survey was done on Tuesday, but the results were not released until Thursday…Residents were stunned by the new numbers. “That’s scary to know that they can be off by that much,” said Angela Spurgeon, whose yard is swamped with ash.

All of which leads me to wonder: how many sludge ponds does Dominion Power maintain? Where are they located and how much toxic waste is contained in each? Are the ponds properly lined, to prevent toxic metals such as arsenic and mercury from leaking into ground water and nearby streams and rivers? The Dominion Resources website does not address this issue.

I’ve submitted these questions to Dominion Resources and will share whatever they tell me on this blog. Of course, they won't be in a hurry to release this information, so it would be better if they hear from a lot of us. You can ask Dominion to release information about it’s ash ponds here. You can also write to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, and ask him to insist that Dominion release the information. The disaster in Tennessee should serve as a wake up call for Virginia.

(Hat Tip to Sandra Diaz at the cool Bloggers Challenge at iLoveMountains.org

for the e-mail alert that sent me in search of the NYT coverage of the Roane County disaster. Sandra also shared a link to Knox News great local coverage of the disaster, with lots of photos and video.)

Dominion Resources End of Year Numbers (With Apologies to Harper's Index)

Let's do the numbers!

• Number of people killed in a Virginia apartment fire this month that started when a grandmother resorted to candles for light after Dominion cut off the power because she failed to pay the bill: three, the grandmother and two kids

• Dominion Resources net income in 2008: $2.5 billion

• Amount that Thomas F. Farrell II earned as Dominion Resources president, chairman, and CEO in 2008: $17.83 million

• Thomas F. Farrell's compensation rank among U.S. utility CEOs: Third
  

• Estimated tons of CO2 emitted by Dominion Resources power plants in 2008: 64 million

• Estimated cost of damage to the planet caused by Dominion's annual CO2 emissions: $4.92 billion (calculated by multiplying Dominion's annual emissions by the Stern Review estimate of the present and future damage caused by a ton of CO2 ($77) including floods, droughts, sea-level rise, declining food production, species extinction, etc.

• Amount Dominion Resources recently donated to food banks in the 14 states where it operates: $1.1 million

Dominion Resources' Upbeat Outlook Ignores Likely Carbon Costs

Dominion Power announced an upbeat outlook for 2009 and beyond that--while it included a minor downward revision in next year's profits--ignored the huge risk that shareholders and customers face from the growing likelihood that the company will face charges for the 64 million tons of CO2 that it annually spews into the atmosphere. According to a December 9 Dominion press release: Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said:

Unlike many other areas of the country that are facing negative energy demand, our Virginia service territory is still enjoying growth, albeit at a slower rate. Additionally, we have pre-approved spending on major infrastructure projects in a favorable regulatory environment. And, even with the projected increases in pension and other benefit costs, no contributions to our pension plans are needed any earlier than mid-2010.

Therefore, following an expected return to normal economic conditions, we would expect an operating earnings growth rate of 6 percent or more beginning in 2011. Although we are revising our operating earnings growth rates in 2009 and 2010, we are comfortable that our longer-term growth rate reflects the true earnings power of the company.

Translation: We at Dominion are managing to boost power demand despite the economic downturn and the rising efficiency of homes, appliances, lighting and industrial processes. We don't care a fig about conservation and helping our customers to save money and become more energy efficiency--notwithstanding our greenwash public service announcements--because we control the Virginia regulatory apparatus and prefer to keep operating just as we did in the previous century: higher demand=new coal pants=rate hikes=higher profits.

Don't be fooled! While some stock analysts, such as Elizabeth Harrow at Schaeffer's Investment, are touting Dominion Resources as a "cheap stock", a little back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the company's failure to take climate change seriously is exposing customers and shareholders to serious risk.

Dominion plants spewed more than 64 million tons of CO2 last year, and the company expects that to rise to 71 million tons in the future. Renewable energy still accounts for less than 2 percent of Dominion's power. Yet a new Washington Post poll finds that 84 percent of Americans want president-elect Obama

to pursue a wide range of issues besides the economy, including 84 percent who want him to drive an effort to require electricity companies to increase the use of renewable sources of energy. A majority, 55 percent, want him to tackle the issue right after taking office in January.

With public alarm about climate change finally starting to catch up with the reality of the threat, carbon charges seem increasingly likely. If carbon is priced at just $10 per ton -- and there are good reasons to think that the charge may be considerably be higher -- Dominion would face an additional $640 million in annual costs. Of course, Dominion may well try to pass those costs on to its customers. But surely some of us will cut back on usage as a result--perhaps sharply. Ah well, there's always the possibility of a bailout. Or maybe not.

Coal Industry Group Cans Clean Coal Carolers

This is just too funny.

Dominion's Farrell II Defends Electricity

Thomas F. Farrell II -- the chairman, president, and CEO of Dominion Resouces -- has given another one of his peculiar speeches touting outdated 19th Century technology (burning coal) as the answer to America's energy future in the 21st Century. In a Dec. 3 keynote address to the 2008 PowerGen Conference in Orlando, Florida, titled Realistic View of National Energy Challenge is Needed, Farrell II painted those who are calling for a rapid shift to a low-carbon economy as enemies of electricity:

End our dependency on foreign oil in 10 years?

One hundred percent clean energy within 10 years?

Failing an extraordinary and unexpected breakthrough in technology, these are impossible goals. These proposals seriously harm the debate because they distract people from the reality of where we find ourselves.

We are going to have to defend electricity by dispelling such illusions, not by flinching when we are confronted by them.

The need to defend electricity comes up several times. Worse, in a 3,500 word speech that was ostensibly about a realistic view of the nation's energy challenge, Farrell II managed to avoid saying the word wind even once. His single mention of solar (which is rapidly emerging as a cost-competitive challenge to coal), was in a joke about a "Midwestern utility colleague" who said his customers would be happy to have "90 percent of their electricity produced by solar power… and the other 10 percent could be beamed in from the moon."

He also made no mention of global warming and only once mentioned climate change in a passing reference to "rising public interest" in the phenomenon.

But Dominion customers and shareholders who worry that Farrell II is either deliberately blowing smoke or woefully ill-informed (or both) can put their hearts at ease:

I live on this planet. My family lives on this planet. We all worry about the environment.

Well, at least we have that in common.

BofA to stop lending for mountain-top removal -- how about yanking loans to Dominion?

Bank of America has announced that it will stop lending to coal companies that obtain most of their coal from mountaintop removal mining (Hat Tip: Rainforest Action Network ). This is great news for all of us who have been fighting this incredibly destructive form of mining. (Notwithstanding that the policy itself looks a little squishy.) If BofA is serious about halting this practice, how about now extending the ban on lending to projects and companies that use lots of mountaintop removal coal?

In seeking approval for the controversial Wise County powerplant (a.k.a. St. Paul for the town where it is being built) Dominion pledged that the plant would consume only Virginia coal. But nearly all of Virginia coal is obtained by mountaintop removal mining.

Next question: Is BofA involved in funding the Wise County plant or any other Dominion projects? Since Dominion uses lots of mountaintop removal coal, should BofA stop lending to Dominion?

Why Change Dominion?

Why create a new blog dedicated to changing the policies of a single power company?

Power generation accounts for about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions and power plants are the largest single-source emitters. It follows that the decisions that the top executives of power companies make will be central to avoiding climate catastrophe. I figure I can go a step further than changing my light bulbs and instead try to change my power company: Dominion Virginia Power

Can the policies of a single company make a difference?

You bet. Dominion Virginia Power is owned by Dominion Resources, which has estimated CO2 emissions of 67 million tons per year. That's more than the total emissions of many countries. Worse, Dominion management continues to actively push for more coal plants. One of the questions I'll be looking at in this blog is whether various new initiatives from the company are serious efforts to reduce emissions or mere greenwash. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Why not focus on changing laws and regulations instead?

As regulated public utilities, power companies should be responsive to mounting public concern about climate change, but regulatory mechanisms are often weak and more responsive to the short-to-medium term interests of the power companies themselves than to the interests of the public. Those of us who attempted to get Virginia regulators to block the Wise Co. power plant discovered just how hard it is to get either elected officials or appointed regulators to do anything that Dominion opposes. That's another issue I'll be watching.

What about joining other groups working on particular issues, such as groups fighting to stop Dominion's Wise County Power Plant?

I admire these efforts, and support them as a volunteer and contributor. I hope you will, too! (I link to them from the homepage of this blog). But these pressures for improvements tend to be episodic and focused on specific issues, such as new plant permitting, rather than permanently altering the behavior of the firm. I hope that by regularly tracking the decisions of a single company I can hasten change.

Got ideas?

I'd love to hear from people who share my interest in changing Dominion. You can contact me at ChangeDominion@gmail.com