The former coal-fired Chesterfield Power Station at Coxendale Road. (Charlie Paullin/Virginia Mercury)
Virginia’s air regulators are awaiting data from Dominion Energy to further process the utility’s air permit request for the natural gas plant they’re proposing to build to meet rising energy needs, as pushback over the location and potential environmental impact of the facility continues.
“We are expecting to receive air quality monitoring data … in the next couple of weeks or so,” said Mike Dowd, director of air and renewable energy at the Department of Environmental Quality, in an update to the State Air Pollution Control Board Thursday. “As soon as we get the air quality modeling data, we will be processing the permit.”
Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton confirmed to The Mercury that the utility is “currently planning to submit our modeling report to DEQ in early 2025.”
Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest utility, is proposing the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center to meet increased energy demands expected to hit the state as a result of data center development. After local opposition, Dominion moved the proposed location from an industrial site on Battery Brooke Parkway to its former coal-fired Chesterfield Power Station on Coxendale Road.
Construction is expected to start in 2026. It’s expected to be operational in 2029.
Environmental and community groups have staunchly fought against the project, saying it runs counter to the state’s 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act that mandates the retirement of fossil fuels by 2045, unless there’s a concern over being able to reliably send electricity to the grid.
Critics also are concerned about the air pollution impacting the surrounding community.
The update on the timeline means next year “is going to be pretty busy in terms of the public engagement,” said Mason Manley, a field manger with Clean Virginia, an advocacy group formed by millionaire Michael Bills to oppose Dominion’s influence in the legislature. The public will likely have the chance to weigh in on both the air permit for the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, as well as a separate Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the State Corporation Commission, which regulates Virginia’s utilities, Manley said.
The air permit is expected to be issued by July 28, according to DEQ’s permitting website, with public engagement opportunities occurring before then. The CPCN is going to be requested “in the first quarter of 2025,” said Slayton, with Dominion.
Andy Farmer, a spokesperson for the SCC, said “It is too early to discuss an SCC public engagement process when an application hasn’t been filed.”
“After Dominion files the application, the SCC will issue an Order for Notice and Hearing that will include a hearing schedule and public comment opportunities,” Farmer said.
Manley said the public engagement opportunity is when community members can make their case for a denial or express their concerns necessitating controls for emissions be put in place. Last month, community members held a “People’s Hearing” to collect public testimony that will be submitted to DEQ during the public engagement period.
“(The air permit) is extremely important, (Dominion) can’t actually begin construction until that is issued,” Manley said.
The timeline update comes as opposition continues over local approval of the land use for the project, which is considered one of the first requirements before the DEQ and SCC processes can finish.
On Monday, the Friends of the Chesterfield, a group formed to oppose the plant, filed another appeal with the Chesterfield County Board of Zoning Appeals over a decision to use a 2010 conditional use permit for the Coxendale Road site for the proposed plant.
Previously, the friends group challenged a zoning determination from Chesterfield County Deputy Administrator Jesse Smith, but the zoning board said that determination was made as part of the air permitting process under the air board’s authority, not its own.
After the rejection, the friends group followed up with Chesterfield County Chesterfield County Planning Director Andrew Gillies with their own request for a zoning determination on using the conditional use permit for the new site. Gillies responded on Oct. 18 saying that the previous letter stating the existing conditional use permit applies to the proposed plant, “fully answers your letter.”
Evan Johns, an attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates, which filed both appeals on behalf of the Friends group, said the second appeal is a response to a determination by Gillies, a zoning official, which the groups says is reviewable by the zoning board.
“It seems like a determination that can be reviewed,” said Johns.
Chesterfield County spokesperson Teresa Bonifas said, “We do not comment on pending or potential litigation.” The next zoning board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4.
Another requirement for the air permit process is a determination of “site suitability.” As Chesterfield County has declined to make that determination, Dowd said “there hasn’t been a full resolution.”
“I assume this is all part and parcel with (the appeal),” Dowd said.
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