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I just got a livid email from a resident of Dendron, VA---the small town of 300 where the Surry Coal Plant is proposed. The ODEC plant would be nearly 3 times the size of the Wise plant...at 1500MW. Pollutants include 14.6 million tons of carbon dioxide per year and over 100 pounds of the neurotoxin mercury among others.
Residents of the town are fighting back...and ODEC is responding. Just because its a Cooperative however, doesn't mean they aren't willing to fight dirty. An article came out in the Smithfield Times, followed by a secret meeting sponsored by ODEC...both were filled with bold lies about the plant.
Here is one resident's response...lets support these people on the frontlines of this battle with dirty coal.
Dear friends and neighbors,
I just wanted to take a moment of your time to direct your attention to the outrageous statement that ODEC has recently told our community:
"The only thing that comes out of the top of the coal plant is water vapor."
- Jeb Hockman, ODEC spokesman, Smithfield Times, May 13, 2009
I have spoken directly with the VA DEQ gentleman who was also quoted in that article and he assured me that Mr. Hockman is 100% mistaken.
I am completely outraged if this is the sort of underhanded tactic that these people are going to use to try to influence people here.
I have already written a letter to the Smithfield Times, but I think it is imperative that we all know that this complete misrepresentation is out there now. Even with retractions and clarifications, many will have read this article and come away with a very distorted view of the realities that a coal plant brings. There's a reason why ODEC had to submit 25 pages of emissions information to the DEQ......and it had very little to do with water vapor!
It should also be noted that the Clover coal plant in Halifax, Virginia, that this quote references, has previously been found to be in violation of Virginia Code, ordered to pay nearly $10,000 in civil charges, sued by residents all the way in New York for polluting the air there, and ordered to pay $5.3 million in penalties to the federal government.
You can find the original documents that substantiate this information here:
Last night at an ODEC meeting, one of their representatives told my husband repeatedly that the Clover plant had never been fined, sued, or in violation of anything.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
Whether we are for, against, or undecided about this proposed plant, we need to have accurate information to base our decisions on. I would never presume to decide for anyone else what is right for their family or their vision for their community, but I can not stand by quietly when I hear these misrepresentations of the truth being told repeatedly to our community. We deserve to have the facts!
Thank you for listening and all my best,
If you want to help fight this battle that is tearing a small town apart...http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5020/t/3211/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1197
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