April 24, APV Deputy Policy Director Stefan Reed testified before the Virginia State Corporation Commission regarding Dominion Power’s proposed 1.1 billion dollar natural gas plant to be built in Brunswick County between now and 2016. Stefan made a strong case against such a large investment in a technology that is already yesterday’s news. “We need to invest in technologies that provide clean and renewable energy for the 21st century not the 20th”. Stefan talked about the need to force Dominion (Virginia’s largest political donor) to live up to its promises of safe, clean, renewable energy instead of the lip service we have gotten so far.
Also at the hearing we heard moving testimony from local Southside business and government leaders in favor of the plant. APV is very sympathetic to the ongoing plight of these communities. Unemployment in this region sits stubbornly at around twice the state average. The citizens of Brunswick County and their neighbors deserve a sustainable, job creating industry in their region. Sadly, instead of a cutting edge alternative energy infrastructure that will bring and keep quality jobs in the Southside such as Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tidal or Hydroelectric, they are being asked to wed their region’s future to the outdated, inefficient and dirty technologies that Dominion persists in advancing. As Stefan said “we need to invest in real energy solutions, not more of the same”
