Dominion Energy’s preliminary rendering of the peaker plant site

Just 2 miles down the road from Bellwood Elementary School, Dominion Energy plans to construct a massive gas-fired power plant in Chesterfield County. As young students swing from monkey bars and run through soccer fields, the plant will spew air pollutants that cause asthma, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, heart disease, and respiratory infection – which young children are especially vulnerable to. The project could also pollute over 2 million tons of carbon emissions annually – a 13% increase in Dominion’s total greenhouse gas emissions across their entire service territory.

Dominion Energy refers to the project as a “peaker plant,” a power plant that is only supposed to run 10% of the time to meet rapid surges in electricity demand. However, Dominion contradicts itself in their own permit plan: they estimate that the plant could operate for 37% of the year. Dominion argues that the facility is necessary to meet a projected increase in electricity demand from data centers and electric vehicles. However, the proposed plant directly contradicts Dominion’s legal obligation to achieve 100% clean energy by 2045, as outlined by law in the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

Natural gas “peaker” power plants are some of the most polluting, least efficient, and most expensive energy sources, typically located in low-income communities and communities of color. Nicole Martin, President of the Chesterfield NAACP, spoke to the environmental justice implications of the proposed facility:

“This community has endured close to 80 years of air and water pollution associated with Dominion’s recently retired coal plant. They don’t deserve to be burdened with another polluting fossil fuel power plant in their backyard when alternatives exist.”

See the Clean Energy Group’s “The Peaker Problem: An Overview of Peaker Power Plant Facts and Impacts in Boston, Philadelphia, and Detroit” to learn more about peaker plants.

Add your signature to the Chesterfield Gas Plant Opposition Sign On Letter by October 22nd to express your opposition to the proposal to build a 1000MW fracked gas peaker plant in Chesterfield.