Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180362
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
COAL BILL DIES; PROPOSED POWER PLANT THREATENED
Advocates for Southwest Virginia were staggered Wednesday when the state Senate refused to force Virginia Power to buy electricity from a proposed coal-burning plant in Wise County, blasting the region's hopes for economic growth."This was a monumental blow," said Del. Ford Quillen, D-Gate City, the measure's sponsor. Quillen said the region was counting on the bill to create jobs in an area where unemployment often tops 20 percent.
Opponents were equally committed to stopping the bill, which they saw as anti-free-enterprise because it required Virginia Power's 1.7 million customers to pay higher electricity bills to subsidize a region of the state.
"It's designed to bring economic development to Southwest Virginia but at too high a cost for too select a group of people. . . . We should not be telling any business how it should operate," said Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Richmond.
The Senate defeated the bill 21-18. Opponents then called it back up and smacked it down again, assuring under parliamentary rules that it could not be revived this session.
The bill won approval last week from the House of Delegates and on Monday from a Senate committee, but needed the blessing of the full Senate to go on to the governor for signature into law.
Supporters say its failure jeopardizes the power plant and the 600 construction jobs it would have created.
The $450 million facility is being proposed by Coastal Power Production Co., which operates out of Roanoke and has headquarters in Houston. Planned for the Toms Creek area of Wise County, the power plant has won a $95 million federal grant to use experimental technology that burns coal more efficiently and cleanly than traditional methods.
To keep the grant, Coastal had until September to find a guaranteed buyer for the electricity. Quillen's bill would have forced Virginia Power to buy electricity at rates to be set by the State Corporation Commission.
Virginia Power usually buys electricity from whomever makes the most competitive offer. The utility had fought this forced purchase with a vengeance, saying it would drive up rates and wreck the free competition of the marketplace.
"We would be delighted to have Toms Creek bid in our next solicitation for power," James Rhodes, Virginia Power's president and chief executive officer, said after the Senate vote. The next solicitation could come in 1994, Rhodes said. Toms Creek would be history by then if it can't sustain its federal grant.
Coastal's early reaction was gloomy. "We're pretty disappointed at today's outcome. We're evaluating options at this point," said Barbara Johnson, a Coastal Corp. spokeswoman in Houston.
Rep. Rick Boucher helped Coastal win the federal grant and seemed more upbeat. He called the defeat "a temporary setback. . . . I'm very confident the plant will be built. We will find a way."
Boucher, D-Abingdon, said he's working "in partnership with Delegate Quillen and with Coastal and we are discussing this with a number of other utilities, including American Electric Power," Appalachian Power's parent.
Backers of Toms Creek "will have to be more creative in finding a customer," Boucher said. Coastal and Apco had reached agreement on a plan for transmitting power from Toms Creek, Boucher said.
Charles Simmons, an Apco vice president, said his company will transmit power from a Wise County plant but it cannot guarantee firm service until its transmission lines are reinforced.
Charles Yates, executive director of the seven-county Virginia Coalfields Economic Development Authority, said the legislative action "is a setback but we're not folding our cards. There are other opportunities."
State Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield, tried everything he could to keep the bill alive in the Senate, fending off attempt after attempt to amend it out of existence and pleading for support.
"This is probably the most important economic development tool in Southwest Virginia in 25 years," Reasor said. "This will help give us new life and give us a future in Southwest Virginia."
Later, asked to react to the measure's demise, Reasor staggered backward as if struck by a blow.
"Can you describe that?" he said.
The only hope for the project, Reasor said, is if Coastal can somehow get the federal government to extend the grant deadline. But he was pessimistic: "I'm not sure I would say the project is dead, but it's certainly terminally ill."
Which is how Quillen took the Senate vote - as if someone close was dying. "I'm really disappointed, because I don't think people realize how fast Southwest Virginia is deteriorating," he said.
"I think, psychologically, this is a big blow because once you think people don't care, you start getting helpless, hopeless. . . . This is putting one more nail in the coffin that nobody cares."
Staff writer George Kegley contributed to this story.
\ YEA OR NAY\ ON FORCING VIRGINIA POWER TO BUY ELECTRICITY FROM THE PROPOSED WISE COUNTY\ PLANT\ \ IN FAVOR: Sens. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County; Madison Marye, D-Shawsville; Frank Nolen, D-New Hope; Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield; Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle; William Wampler, R-Bristol.\ \ OPPOSED: Sens. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount; Elliot Schewel, D-Lynchburg.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993