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A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15 at the Rust library in Leesburg, although Ms. Thomas believes that park officials may be forced to remain silent on pollution sources.
“We are preparing comments because we’re concerned about the park, but we’re not sure if we will be allowed to submit them,” Ms. Thomas said.
The oil- and gas-fired facility is expected to produce 1,285 tons of NOx annually, 269 tons of sulfur dioxide and around 98 tons of “volatile organic compounds,” essentially unspent fuel.
In addition to political pressure which prevents comment on a pollution source, Ms. Thomas points to instances where companies use the pollution guidelines themselves to thwart pollution improvements.
The Gordonsville Energy Limited Partnership plant, just 21 miles from ' the park, is expected to produce 249.9 tons of combined pollutants per year. If the plant were slated to produce 250 tons, a mere 200 pounds more, then the plant would come under a more stringent set of pollution standards and review procedures.
Ms. Thomas also notes that the Gordonsville plant could be run for a longer or shorter number of hours each year and that the pollution from the plant will be created at the worst possible times.
“They’re a peak-load facility,” she said. “When it’s hot and muggy, that’s when this plant kicks in.”
Ms. Thomas equates the debate' over switching to improved combustion and pollution scrubber technology with the office revolution of switching from typewriters to computers and word processers.
“Being economically sound is not mutually exclusive of being ecologically sound,” Ms. Thomas said. “It will demand a slight shift in technology but it will still provide jobs.”
Carr pointed out that park officials and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks recently sought to appeal the state’s issuance of a permit for another coal-fired generating facility located 34 miles from park boundaries.
Administration high-ups told them not to proceed with the appeal, said Carr. A similar fate met Forest Service attempts to appeal the same permit, he added.
If something isn’t done and soon, Carr predicted, one of our state’s greatest natural resources will be irreparably damaged and lost to future generations.
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