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Dominion Energy, Inc., commonly referred to as Dominion, is an American energy company headquartered in
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
that supplies electricity in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and supplies
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
to parts of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Dominion also has generation facilities in
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, and
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
. The company acquired
Questar Corporation Questar Corporation is a company based in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It manufactures precision optical devices for consumer, industrial, aerospace, and military markets. Its telescopes produced for the consumer market are sold under the brand name " ...
in the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
, including parts of Utah and Wyoming, in September 2016. In January 2019, Dominion Energy completed its acquisition of SCANA Corporation.


Overview

The company's asset portfolio includes 27,000
megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s of power generation, of electric transmission lines, of distribution lines, of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and equivalent of natural gas and oil reserves. Dominion also operates the nation's largest natural gas storage facility, amounting to more than of storage capacity. The company's Cove Point
liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...
(LNG) import terminal on the
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...
is one of the nation's largest and busiest facilities of its kind. Dominion serves more than 5 million retail energy customers in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S. In 2017, Dominion was listed at #238 on the
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
. A book about the company's 100-year history, ''Dominion’s First Century: A Legacy of Service'', was published in 2010.


Generation statistics

In 2022, 18 percent of Dominion's total electric production came from
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
, 23 percent from
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...
, 48 percent from
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
, and 11 percent from
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
and other renewables. A strategy is being developed for
renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
sources, primarily
wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
and
biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
, and conservation and
efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste. ...
programs to play an increasingly important role in meeting future energy needs and minimizing the company's environmental footprint.


History

Dominion's corporate roots reach back to the Colonial era through predecessor companies that operated canal and river barging, street lighting, railways, and electric trolleys. In 1787, the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...
created the Appomattox Trustees to promote navigation along the
Appomattox River The Appomattox River is a tributary of the James River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 in central and eastern Virginia, named for the ...
. In 1795, the trustees formed the Upper Appomattox Company to build dams along the river for industrial use, beginning Dominion's history. In 1901, the water rights passed to the newly formed Virginia Passenger & Power Company. Dominion's closest direct corporate ancestor, Virginia Railway & Power Company, was founded by Frank Jay Gould on June 29, 1909. It bought Virginia Passenger & Power soon afterward. In 1925, the name was changed to the Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO), a regulated
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
. In 1940, VEPCO doubled its service territory by merging with the Virginia Public Service Company. The transit operations were sold in 1944. In 1980, VEPCO began branding itself as "Virginia Power," while branding its North Carolina operations as "North Carolina Power." Three years later, VEPCO reorganized as a holding company, Dominion Resources. By 1985, Dominion split its distribution operations among two operating companies: Virginia Power (operating in Virginia and the
Greenbrier Valley Greenbrier or Green Brier may refer to: * ''Smilax'', a plant genus commonly called greenbrier Places in the United States * Greenbrier, Alabama * Greenbrier, Arkansas * Green Brier, Illinois * Greenbrier, Indiana (disambiguation) * Greenbr ...
of West Virginia) and North Carolina Power (operating in North Carolina). In 1986, Dominion gained territory by expanding in
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...
after purchasing the Virginia distribution territory of
Potomac Electric Power Company The Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is an American public utility, utility company that supplies electric power to the city of Washington, D.C., and to surrounding communities in Maryland. It is owned by Exelon. The company's current tra ...
(PEPCO). In 1987, the West Virginia assets of Dominion were sold to Utilicorp United becoming branded as West Virginia Power, but Dominion retained ownership of the Mount Storm Power Station in West Virginia. (In 1999, West Virginia Power would be sold to Allegheny Energy and folded into its Monongahela Power subsidiary; it and other Allegheny Energy subsidiaries have since been acquired in 2010 by
FirstEnergy FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility headquartered in Akron, Ohio. It was established when Ohio Edison merged with Centerior Energy in 1997. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in distributing, transmitting, and generating electrici ...
.) Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Dominion initiated a series of expansions into regulated and non-regulated energy businesses, both domestically and internationally. During that era, the company also established itself as a world-class operator of
nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
s. In 2000, Dominion bought Consolidated Natural Gas Company (CNG) of
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, and added natural gas service to its energy delivery network in the energy-intensive markets in the Northeastern quadrant of the U.S. In 2001, Dominion bought Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Company, adding to its natural gas delivery network. Dominion re-branded all of its operations in 2000 to Dominion from Virginia and North Carolina Power as well as Consolidated Gas in order to create a more unified energy company. In 2007, as part of another effort to refocus on core electric and gas operations, Dominion sold most of its
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
-based natural gas and oil exploration and production business for pre-tax proceeds of nearly $14 billion. Its onshore US oil and gas reserves were sold in separate deals to
Loews Corporation Loews Corporation is an American conglomerate headquartered in New York City. The company's majority-stake holdings include CNA Financial Corporation, Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, Loews Hotels and Altium Packaging. The corporation positions ...
and to XTO Energy, while its
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
reserves were sold to
Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...
, and its Canadian reserves were sold to two Canadian trusts. Dominion still retains some production areas in
Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...
, however. In February 2016, Dominion Resources announced that it would be acquiring
Questar Corporation Questar Corporation is a company based in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It manufactures precision optical devices for consumer, industrial, aerospace, and military markets. Its telescopes produced for the consumer market are sold under the brand name " ...
. The acquisition was completed in September 2016. In 2017, Dominion Resources rebranded itself to Dominion Energy, following with a new logo. In January 2018,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
reported that Dominion Energy would be buying SCANA Corporation for $7.9 billion.; the acquisition was completed in January 2019. In the summer of 2018, Dominion Energy launched a "grid transformation program." The program's aim was to build 3,000 megawatts worth of new solar and wind energy by the year 2022. The program was launched under the authority of the Grid Transformation & Security Act, a state law signed by Virginia Governor
Ralph Northam Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...
. "The law paves the way for expanded investments in
renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
, smart grid technology, a stronger, more secure grid and energy efficiency programs . . ." In July 2020, Dominion announced plans to sell natural gas transmission and storage assets to
Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...
; the size of the deal is estimated at $10 billion. In February 2022, Dominion Energy sold one of its subsidiary, Dominion Energy West Virginia, to Hearthstone Utilities Inc. for $690 million. Hearthstone will continue operations in West Virginia under the name: "Hope Gas". In September 2023,
Enbridge Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline transport, pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and n ...
agreed to acquire East Ohio Gas, Questar Gas, and Public Service Co. of North Carolina, from Dominion for a total enterprise value worth $14 billion.


Operations

Dominion has four operating segments:


Dominion Generation

Dominion generates electricity for both regulated sale in its Virginia and North Carolina markets, and also for wholesale in other markets in the Northeast and Midwest United States. Electricity generation is the largest unit of Dominion.


Dominion Virginia and North Carolina Power

Dominion is a regulated electric utility that transmits, and distributes electricity from its power plants in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, North Carolina, Connecticut, and West Virginia to customers.


Dominion Energy

:*Natural gas distribution :*Natural gas transmission and storage :*Producer services :*Solar Funding – Tredegar Solar Fund I, LLC


Dominion Exploration and Production

Dominion Exploration and Production was the
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
and oil exploration and production subsidiary of Dominion, and by 2007 was one of the largest independent natural gas and oil operators. During 2007, Dominion sold the majority of its oil and natural gas exploration and production assets to put additional focus on growing its electric generation and energy distribution, transmission, storage and retail businesses mainly in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina.


Expansion plans

Dominion was a partner in a joint venture that planned to build the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline to run between West Virginia and North Carolina. Though the project had faced stiff opposition from environmental and community heritage groups along its route, ground was broken on the pipeline in Lewis County, West Virginia, in May 2018. Dominion and
Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company ranked as the 141st largest company in the United States in 2024 – its highest-ever placement on the ...
canceled the pipeline in July 2020, citing cost increases due to lawsuits, largely from environmental groups opposed to the project. Dominion is constructing a massive offshore wind farm off of the coast of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, the project being named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, or CVOW. This project will add more than 2,600
megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
of clean energy to their grid, with 220
wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each y ...
capable of powering 650,000 homes at peak. This project will be the country's second offshore wind project, but the first of its kind to be installed in federal waters, sited roughly 27 miles off the Virginian coast. Dominion currently has two turbines constructed as a pilot project, planning for all turbines to be in place by 2026. In December 2020, the keel was laid for the project's novel Jones Act-compliant offshore WTIV, the ''Charybdis'', under construction at Keppel AmFELS shipyards in
Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...
.


Political activities

The Dominion
Political Action Committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
(PAC) has been very active in donating to Virginia candidates. In 2009, the Dominion PAC donated a total of $814,885 with 56% going to Republicans and 41% to Democrats. In 2008, the PAC donated $539,038 with 50% going to Republicans and 47% to Democrats. In the 2016 election cycle, the PAC contributed $1,276,016.17 to various political candidates and committees. Lobbyists for Dominion worked to pass West Virginia's Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, a 2021 law creating
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
penalties for protests targeting oil and gas facilities, which was described by its sponsor John Kelly as having been "requested by the natural gas industry".


Charitable contributions

Dominion's social investment program is carried out primarily through the Dominion Foundation, which gives about $20 million each year to charities in the states in which Dominion does business. Dominion also has the Benjamin J. Lambert, III, Volunteer of the Year Program. 2017 was the thirty-third year of the program recognizing top company volunteers. Dominion honors the volunteers by paying $1000 to the charity of the individual's choice. In 2016, twelve employees from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia were selected. In 2020, Dominion responded to the coronavirus pandemic by stopping service disconnects for non-payment and helping customers who had been disconnected for not making payments to reconnect to its service. It is also waiving late and reconnection fees. The company has also directed its charitable foundation to provide $1 million in aid to help individuals and organizations fighting COVID-19. The $1 million will be offered to national groups like the American Red Cross and local organizations the company identifies.


Controversies


High voltage lines

A number of controversies have surrounded the company's decisions to develop new routes for its
electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...
lines. On February 13, 2007, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' reported that the power company was planning to change the route of one 500 kV transmission line to appease critics in
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...
from a route that would cut through protected
forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
and
farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
land to a southern route that would bypass nature preserves and
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
sites by running adjacent to existing power lines. However, U.S. Congressional Representative Frank Wolf ( R - VA) and Governor
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
( D) remained opposed to the line, saying that there was no real need, and that Dominion was trying to bring cheap electricity from the
Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
. Dominion contested, saying that the line would bring needed electricity to growing
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...
. The proposal was accepted by the
State Corporation Commission The State Corporation Commission, or SCC, is a Virginia (USA) regulatory agency whose authority encompasses public utility, utilities, insurance, state-chartered financial institutions, security (finance), securities, retail franchising, and railr ...
(SCC) on October 7, 2008. On February 15, 2008, the SCC approved a controversial proposal for a 230 kV Dominion Virginia transmission line that would travel above ground for along a
wooded A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
portion of the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail between Leesburg and Clarks Gap in
Loudoun County Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg, Virgi ...
, which Dominion again claimed was necessary for power reliability. Less than three weeks later, on March 4 and March 5, 2008, the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and the House of Delegates of the Virginia General Assembly unanimously passed emergency legislation that ordered the SCC to approve the underground construction of the line along that section of the trail as part of a four-part statewide
pilot program A pilot experiment, pilot study, pilot test or pilot project is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate feasibility, duration, cost, adverse events, and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research ...
for the development of underground transmission lines. Sponsored by Delegate Joe T. May ( R - Loudoun), the legislation exempted the project from any requirements for further SCC analyses relating to the impacts of the route, including environmental impacts and impacts upon historical resources. The legislation went into effect when Virginia Governor
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
approved it on April 2, 2008.


Wise County power plant

The company began constructing a 605
MWe The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
fired
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...
in
Wise County, Virginia Wise County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county was formed in 1856 from Lee, Scott, and Russell Counties and named for Henry A. Wise, who was the Governor of Virginia at the time. The county seat is in Wise. Hi ...
in June 2008. , the construction had reached the halfway point, with the plant scheduled to be fully operational in mid-2012. Dominion calls the plant the "
Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center The Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (VCHEC) is a power station located in St. Paul, Virginia, St. Paul, in Wise County, Virginia. It is operated by Dominion Energy, Dominion Virginia Power, Dominion Resources Inc.'s electric distribution compan ...
," which has been criticized by environmentalists as a way to make the plant sound environmentally friendly. The plant does however have the most stringent air permit for any coal fired power plant in the nation currently. The plant will burn up to 20%
biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
along with coal and a small amount of waste coal known as gob. The plant's
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
emissions are currently projected to be 5.4 million tons per year. High levels of mercury emitted from the plant, which is controlled by activated carbon injection to reduce the emissions, as well as a
fly ash Coal combustion products (CCPs), also called coal combustion wastes (CCWs) or coal combustion residuals (CCRs), are byproducts of burning coal. They are categorized in four groups, each based on physical and chemical forms derived from coal combust ...
dump near the
Clinch River The Clinch River is a river that flows southwest for more than through the Great Appalachian Valley in the U.S. states of Virginia and Tennessee, gathering various tributaries, including the Powell River, before joining the Tennessee River in ...
(a source of drinking water) are also of concern. The plant would also continue to support
mountaintop removal Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. T ...
coal mining. Supporters, including Governor
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
, stated that as one of the largest importers of electricity, Virginia could become less dependent on importing electricity from other states with a new power plant. The plant brought 1000 workers to build, and will employ 130 full-time, as well as pay 4 to 7 million dollars of
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
revenue yearly to economically depressed Wise County. In September 2008, the site was blockaded by activists from the Rainforest Action Network.


Cove Point LNG import facility

In 2001 when Dominion's Dominion Cove Point LNG subsidiary was scheduled to reopen, many local residents were concerned about the proximity (only 3 miles) to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, and the damage that could be caused by an attack or an explosion at the plant. Residents thought that the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport ...
did not consider the risks before opening the plant. In 2005, Washington Gas claimed that the
natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...
import An importer is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. Import is part of the International Trade which involves buying and receivin ...
ed at the plant was too "hot," meaning that it contained fewer heavy
hydrocarbons In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic; their odor is usually faint, and may b ...
and burned hotter. Washington Gas said that the hot gas caused problems for its customers and caused many of its mains to break. Dominion denied that the imported gas was the cause of the breaks and stated that expanding the area serviced by the imported gas would not cause additional leaks in the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
and
Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...
suburbs.


Environmental record

In 2010, the Political Economy Research Institute ranked Dominion Resources 51st among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the United States. Dominion's Toxic Score of 16,656 (pounds released × toxicity × population exposure) represents a significant improvement from both the 2008 report (Dominion ranked 27th with a Toxic Score of 58,642) and the 2005 report (Dominion ranked 19th with a Toxic Score of 117,712) In December 2007, a settlement between the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
(EPA) and Dominion Energy of Brayton Point called for the company's power generating plant to install new closed cycle cooling towers that provided significant protection to aquatic organisms in Mount Hope Bay, which flows into
Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. S ...
. The 2007 settlement resolved an ongoing dispute that began in 2003. The EPA issued a final discharge permit called a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for the Brayton Point Power Station requiring significant reductions in thermal discharges to, and water intake from, Mount Hope Bay. In 2002, Dominion was responsible for 1,110,703 pounds of
gastrointestinal The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascular system. ...
or liver toxicant emissions, 1,440,000 pounds of
musculoskeletal The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system provid ...
toxicant emissions, and 1,489,763 pounds of suspected respiratory toxicant emissions, and 1,478,383 pounds of suspected skin or
sense organ A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...
toxicant emissions among other emissions that are suspected to be hazardous.Environmental Releases for DOMINION RESOURCES INC. YORKTOWN POWER STATION
At July 4 2013 on the Wayback Machine


See also

* Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind


References


External links

* {{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies in the Dow Jones Utility Average Electric power companies of the United States Companies based in Richmond, Virginia Companies established in 1983 Natural gas companies of the United States Nuclear power companies of the United States Hydroelectric power companies of the United States Defunct companies based in Cleveland 1983 establishments in Virginia