Natural Gas Power Plant Project Discarded as Opposition Heightens

Recently, eastern Virginia had to abandon a natural gas power plant project following a regulatory ruling. Massive protests have erupted from environmental groups and residents, citing damages the project can cause to the geography of the five countries through which the gas pipe runs.

The power plant would have generated electricity by burning natural gas pumped through a projected 83-mile (134-kilometre) pipeline that would have run through Louisa, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Charles City counties. The electricity would have been sold in a wholesale market of other states.

According to Chickahominy Power LLC, “opposition from outside interests and regulations, largely advanced by the renewable energy industry and state legislators that supported them, made it impossible to deliver natural gas to the site.”

The company stopped the project last month following the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission supported regional transmission organisation PJM in its decision to do away with the plant for failing to meet milestones for completion.

The residents and environmental groups are worried a lot about the impact on the environment, especially when the natural gas is burned.

Jorge Aguilar, the southern region director for Food & Water Watch, said: "The pipeline and plant were completely unnecessary and unwelcome from the start. We celebrate the years of efforts by grassroots activists in Charles City County and across the state in achieving this momentous victory."