Dominion is actively engaged with regulators, industry, and
other interested parties in providing input in the development of new regulations
to reflect experience, scientific understanding and expectations.
Multi-Pollutant Legislation
Over the last several years, the U.S. Congress has considered
a number of multi-pollutant legislative proposals that would require Dominion
to comply with more stringent pollution control standards for air emissions
from our fossil fuel-fired generation fleet.
Interest has declined to some degree at the federal
level with EPA's promulgation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to
address power plant SO2 and NOx emissions and the
Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). However, Dominion will continue to be actively
engaged through open dialogue and public stakeholder processes with regulatory
and policy decision-makers, environmental groups, the electric utility industry
and other stakeholders at the national and state levels to advocate policies
and approaches governed by these principles.
In March 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
finalized the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) aimed at reducing emissions
of SO2 and NOx from fossil fuel-fired electric generating
facilities in 28 Eastern U.S. states and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR)
to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired electric generating facilities
across the entire U.S.
The SO2 and NOx emission reduction
requirements under CAIR are in two phases with initial reduction levels targeted
for 2009 (NOx) and 2010 (SO2 ), and a second phase
of reductions targeted for 2015 (SO2 and NOx). The
mercury emission reduction requirements are also in two phases with initial
reduction levels targeted for 2010 and a second phase of reductions targeted
for 2018.
The new rules set state-specific emission caps for each
pollutant and allow the states to opt in to federally administered emission
trading programs. The states are required to develop regulations implementing
the federal emission limits and must submit state implementation plans, called
SIPs, to EPA for approval.
Dominion owns and operates
fossil fuel-fired electric generating units in several states that
are subject to the new EPA rules. The company supports the EPA regulations,
and is already taking aggressive steps to comply with these new rules.
In November 2005, the Company announced initial plans
to spend up to $500 million to install additional emission controls
on its coal-fired stations in Virginia over the next 10 years to comply
with these rules.
Once these projects (described on right) are completed,
Dominion will have reduced its SO2 emissions
by about 80 percent from 2000 levels for its coal-fired units serving
Virginia. Nitrogen oxide emissions will decrease by 74 percent and
mercury emissions by 86 percent.
Environmental Improvement Projects
The projects will include the installation of SO2 scrubbers on
all four coal-fired units at the 1,660-megawatt Chesterfield Power
Station, the Company’s largest fossil-fueled power station
in Virginia. Dominion completed construction on a scrubber for
the largest unit and it began operating in Spring 2008.
The company also constructed
equipment to reduce particulate emissions and a new chimney for the unit. A scrubber to clean the emissions on the other three coal units at Chesterfield will be completed
and in operation in 2011.
These new environmental controls follow more than $2 billion
Dominion has invested in or committed to since the mid-1990’s in clean
air improvements. View a list of air
quality improvements completed or in construction.
The states within which Dominion owns and operates facilities
subject to the new EPA requirements are in the process of developing their
rules to implement CAIR and CAMR, and the Company has been actively working
with our states to encourage the adoption of regulations that embrace the
market-based compliance elements of the federal model rules.
Such market based compliance approaches encourage companies
to over-and-early comply by providing for early emissions credits and emission
allowances.
For instance in Virginia, Dominion worked successfully
with multiple stakeholders to support legislation in Virginia to use a cap
and trade approach that will result in more stringent mercury reductions
than the federal rules as well as for sulfur dioxide and NOx. Mercury reductions
will be achieved sooner than the federal regulation requires.
Under state regulations developed pursuant to this legislation,
those emitting more than 900 pounds of mercury in 1999, such as Dominion,
will not be allowed to buy allowances in order to comply with the new mercury
standards. This means that compliance for these generators can only be met
by reductions in emissions and not by purchasing allowances. These sources
will be allowed to sell their excess allowances.
These emitters must also
comply with the final mercury standards by 2015. This is three years earlier
than the deadline in the federal rule. In addition, Dominion must reduce
NOx emissions by an extra 5000 tons during the 2007 and/or 2008 control period.
Once the states have finalized their rules, Dominion
will develop a more comprehensive strategy to address compliance requirements
and options across the entire generation fleet subject to these rules.
Coal fired power plants in Massachusetts are subject to
some of the most stringent multi-pollutant regulations in the country. Under
the rules promulgated by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection,
emissions of SO2, NOx, mercury and CO2
from these plants must be significantly reduced in phases between 2004 and
2012.
Initially, plants are subject to 6 pounds of SO2
emissions per megawatt hour, 1.5 pounds of NOx emissions per megawatt hour,
and a CO2 cap established for each plant based on their
historical operations. The standards become more stringent by incorporating
mercury standards, reducing averaging times, and reducing emissions limits.
By 2012, the rules will be fully implemented.
Dominion will comply with these new environmental standards
through a combination of emission control technology, low emission fuels and
market based emission allowance and offset compliance alternatives. At Brayton
Point Station in Somerset, Massachusetts, SO2 "scrubber"
technology is being installed and selective catalytic
reduction technology is being installed to reduce NOx. These
SO2 and NOx emission controls combined with the use,
if needed, of activated carbon injection into the flue gasses will be utilized
to meet the new limits for mercury.
Brayton Point will optimize the application of these technologies
and employ the market-based compliance
program to meet the new SO2, NOx and mercury emission
requirements starting in October 2006. Upon full implementation of the compliance
programs, the plant will effectively reduce emissions for SO2
by 75 percent, NOx by 56 percent, and mercury by 95 percent respectively.
Dominion
reached an agreement with Massachusetts and 60 other stakeholders on
May 26, 2005 on a plan to reduce emissions at Salem Harbor Power Station
and to continue to generate electricity at the station.
The plan includes two agreements —
one approved by Massachusetts
and the stakeholders and the other approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
Salem Harbor Station
Under the plan, Dominion is reducing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxide and mercury emissions at Salem Harbor by burning low-emissions coal
and will install an improved fuel handling system while continuing to operate
the station to provide the necessary reliability to the New England electric
transmission system.
Prior to Dominion's purchase of the facility January 1,
2005, the prior owner had said that it could not justify the cost of environmental
improvements at Salem Harbor. However, the ISO-New England, which is responsible
for the operation of New England's bulk power generation and transmission
system, said closing Salem Harbor would adversely impact the stability of
the system and blocked the station's closing.
With the plan in place, Dominion has committed to meet stringent
air emission requirements while keeping the power station in operation through
Sept. 30, 2008, and possibly longer depending on business needs, future environmental
control measures and economical operations.
As part of the agreement, Dominion committed to burn low
emissions coal in boilers 1, 2 and 3. In order to burn a wider variety of
low emissions coal, Dominion is installing an improved fuel handling system
at the station and has developed an optimization protocol to address the combustion
of any low emission coal. The facility has worked with a local group of stakeholder
to revision the coal management procedures to reflect enhanced dust mitigation.
The station is complying with the stringent Massachusetts
emission requirements through reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides
emissions as well as utilizing early reduction credits and purchased allowances.
Effective October 1, 2005, the agreement set a limit of 6.0 pounds of sulfur
dioxide per MWh (megawatt hour), facility- wide. On October 1, 2007, the station-wide
limit will drop to 3.0 pounds of sulfur dioxide on a 12 month rolling average.
Beginning October 1, 2005, the station was subject to a 12-month facility-wide
rolling average limit of 1.5 pounds of nitrogen oxides per MWh. On October
1, 2007 the station will also meet a monthly average limit of 3.0 pounds of
nitrogen oxides per MWh.
Beginning in January 1, 2008, the power station also will
be subject to the state's stringent mercury requirements of 85 percent reduction
in emissions or 0.0075 pounds of mercury per GWh (gigawatt hour).
Mercury is a naturally occurring metal in the earth’s
crust. It is released into the environment naturally through volcanoes, oceans
and soils, and also through human processes. These include medical waste incineration,
chemical applications, gold and ore mining, municipal and hazardous waste
combustion, cement manufacturing, fossil fuel combustion, and pulp and paper
milling.
Mercury exists in a number of chemical forms. The most common
organic form, methylmercury, enters the aquatic food chain and bioaccumulates
in fish tissue. Concerns about mercury exposure through fish consumption has
led EPA and some state government officials to regulate the amount of mercury
released into the environment from various manmade sources.
Coal-fired power plants
currently emit about 48 tons of airborne mercury annually, comprising
about one-third of the man-made emissions in the United States and just
one percent of total global mercury emissions. Dominion coal plants
emit approximately one ton of mercury per year into the air.
Since the early 1990s, the electric utility industry
has reduced mercury air emissions by almost 40 percent through existing
control technologies for SO2, NOx and particulate
matter.
Existing air pollution controls (electrostatic precipitators,
fabric filters, scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction) are effective,
to varying degrees, in reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired power
plants.
State Line Power Station, located in
Indiana, burns coal to generate 515 megawatts.
Depending on the coal type and mercury content, ESPs may
reduce mercury by nearly 50 percent. Fabric filters may reduce mercury by
much higher levels — up to 85 percent. Combinations of controls (fabric
filter + scrubber; scrubber + selective catalytic reduction, etc.) may achieve
high levels of mercury reduction, up to 80 to 90 percent in some cases.
Collection efficiencies of the different control technologies
are very much dependent on the mercury species in the coal (elemental or oxidized).
Coals with higher elemental mercury (sub-bituminous and lignite) generally
have lower total mercury but are also much more difficult to capture with
existing control equipment. Bituminous coal generally contains higher levels
of total mercury but contains mostly oxidized mercury which can be more efficiently
controlled with existing controls.
Development of controls specifically designed to capture
mercury are under development. Electric power companies are also helping the
Department of Energy (DOE) test the effectiveness of emerging mercury-specific
control technologies, and while these emerging technologies have shown promise
based on short-term applications, they are still several years away from widespread,
commercial application. Some companies, including Dominion, have also partnered
with EPA in evaluating emerging mercury stack emissions monitoring technology.
As previously noted, the U.S. EPA has promulgated the Clean
Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power
plants that nationwide will result in a nearly 70 percent reduction in mercury
emissions by 2018 through a phased program beginning in 2010. States are
currently in the process of developing regulations to implement these reductions,
and several states within which Dominion owns and operates coal-fired electric
generating stations are developing regulations that will require deeper reductions
than the EPA rule.
In addition, states are
required to develop mercury loading limits for waterways identified
as impaired under the Clean Water Act.
Learn
more about mercury emissions from Dominion operations.
Dominion is committed to reducing mercury emissions. Since
the mid 1990s, we have achieved significant mercury reductions at our Clover
Power Station with the operation of SO2 scrubber
and fabric filter particulate control system and an SO2
scrubber system at the Mt.
Storm Power Station in West Virginia.
Mt. Storm Power Station's particulate
control systems and scrubbers significantly reduce mercury emissions.
Over the last several years, Dominion has further reduced mercury
emissions through the installation of two additional SO2
scrubbers at the Mt. Storm Power Station and the repowering of two
coal-fired boilers to cleaner-burning natural gas at the Possum
Point Power Station in northern Virginia.
Additional reductions are being achieved across the Dominion coal-fired
generation fleet through existing particulate matter controls and
advanced NOx controls. As noted in our earlier discussion of the
new EPA Clean Air rules, further reductions will occur with the
installation of SO2 scrubbers at the Chesterfield
Power Station.
Once these projects are completed, Dominion will have reduced
its mercury emissions for units serving Virginia and West Virginia by 86 percent
from 2000 levels. Additional mercury reduction will be achieved by controls
planned at the Brayton Point Power Station.
Dominion supports measures to reduce mercury that are harmonized
with other pollutant reduction requirements. This will allow the development
of planning strategies that effectively take advantage of mercury reductions
that can be achieved through conventional SO2 and NOx
control technologies in the near term, and allow for the full development
of advanced mercury removal technologies.
Dominion is closely monitoring developments related to mercury
through active participation in various efforts involved at the federal and
state level in shaping policies and approaches that achieve desired air and
water quality goals through cost-effective and flexible mechanisms.
In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced
a major effort to improve air quality in specific national parks and wilderness
areas, known as Class I areas. There are 156 such areas in the US and they
are listed in the federal Clean Air Act. The EPA’s initiative resulted
in the development of the Regional Haze Rule. This rule calls for state and
federal agencies to work together to improve visibility in the listed national
parks and wilderness areas.
On June 15, 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized
amendments to the July 1999 regional haze rule. These amendments apply to
the provisions of the regional haze rule that require emission controls known
as best available retrofit technology, or BART, for industrial facilities
emitting air pollutants that potentially reduce visibility by causing or contributing
to regional haze.
The best available retrofit technology requirements of the
regional haze rule apply to facilities built between 1962 and 1977 that have
the potential to emit more than 250 tons a year of visibility-impairing pollution.
Those facilities fall into 26 categories, including utility and industrial
boilers, and large industrial plants such as pulp mills, refineries and smelters.
Under the 1999 regional haze rule, states are required to
set periodic goals for improving visibility in the 156 natural areas. As states
work to reach these goals, they must develop regional haze implementation
plans that contain enforceable measures and strategies for reducing visibility-impairing
pollution. States must develop their implementation plans by December 2007.
EPA has developed guidelines for states to use in determining which facilities
must install controls and the type of controls the facilities must use.
Dominion owns facilities in several states that have been
initially identified as subject to the requirements and is working with each
state agency to provide needed information to perform appropriate air quality
modeling and ultimately an appropriate determination of what constitutes
best available retrofit technology for each facility. The Company anticipates
that controls planned to meet the US EPA' s Clean Air Interstate Rule will
address best available retrofit technology requirements with respect to NOx
and SO2 in most of the states within which we operate.
In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized regulations
that established for the first time national performance standards for cooling
water intake structures at existing power stations. The rule implements a
portion of the Clean Water Act that requires that the location, design, construction,
and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology
available for minimizing adverse environmental impacts on aquatic organisms.
Kincaid Power Station is among
16 Dominion stations affected
by the national performance
standards for cooling water
intake structures.
Sixteen Dominion power stations in eight states are affected by this
rule and include Bremo, Chesterfield, Chesapeake, North Anna, Possum
Point, Surry, and Yorktown in Virginia; Morgantown and Mount Storm
in West Virginia; Millstone in Connecticut; Kincaid in Illinois; State
Line in Indiana; Brayton Point and Salem Harbor in Massachusetts,
Manchester in Rhode Island, and Kewaunee in Wisconsin.
Most electric generating power stations are located near large bodies
of water because of the need to have access to water for cooling purposes
in the production of electricity.
These locations may include estuaries, rivers, or lakes.
Impacts from the cooling water intake system include the impingement
and entrainment of aquatic organisms.
Impingement occurs when
fish or shellfish get caught against the outer part of an intake structure
or against a screening device when water is withdrawn through the intake
screen.
Learn
more about Dominion's efforts to conserve water and minimize
withdrawals.
Entrainment of life stages of fish and shellfish occurs
when the organisms enter and pass through a cooling water intake structure
and into a cooling water system. Typically, impingement involves adult and
juvenile fish, while entrainment involves the young of year and eggs.
The purpose of the regulation is to minimize adverse environmental
impact from cooling water intake structures. To achieve this purpose, performance
standards have been established to reduce impingement and entrainment. These
standards are percentage reductions (80-90 percent for impingement, 60-90
percent for entrainment) from a defined baseline with a typical shoreline
intake with no controls. The entrainment standard does not apply in lakes,
in relatively large rivers, or if the capacity factor is low for a particular
station.
In order to develop the required compliance plans, facilities
are required to develop a proposal for information collection that includes
a description of information previously collected about cooling water intakes
at the station, proposes a sampling plan for any biological data proposed
for collection, technical options to be evaluated for meeting the performance
standards and restoration options to be evaluated. Dominion submitted proposals
for information collection at many of the facilities affected by the rule
in 2005.
Biological sampling is underway at our facilities to supplement
data already available to better understand the impact of our cooling water
intakes. In addition, technical evaluations have been initiated to better
understand technical and restoration options for compliance. We expect to
spend approximately $16 million over 3 years ending in 2007 to conduct studies
and technical evaluations.
Compliance plans were to be submitted to the appropriate
agencies in early 2008; however, a recent circuit court decision remanded
back to the Environmental Protection Agency for consideration many of the
substantive parts of the regulation. It is currently uncertain how the agency
will respond to the court order. Until there is certainty about the rule
requirements, we cannot predict the outcome of the regulatory process to
determine what specific control may be required.
Renewable energy is an important part of Dominion's plan to meet the ever-growing need for electricity. Visit our section on renewable energy to learn more about our initiatives.
In Virginia, Dominion is committed to meeting a voluntary goal
of 12 percent of base year electricity energy sales from renewable energy sources
by 2022 and North Carolina’s mandatory goal of 12.5 percent from renewable energy
sources by 2021. The company also works to ensure that its electric distribution
customers have access to supplies of "green" or renewable power if they wish
to purchase it.
Dominion owns and operates nearly 413 megawatts (MW) of generating
capacity in Virginia and North Carolina that utilize renewable fuels, enough
to power approximately 100,000 homes. The facilities are:
Facility
State
Capacity
Fuel
Gaston
NC
225 MW
Hydroelectric
Roanoke Rapids
NC
99 MW
Hydroelectric
Cushaw
VA
2 MW
Hydroelectric
North Anna
VA
0.9 MW
Hydroelectric
Pittsylvania
VA
80 MW
Biomass
Altavista
VA
6.3 MW
Biomass co-fired with coal
Dominion is a 50 percent owner in a 264 MW wind
turbine facility under construction in Grant County, WV. The first phase
of the project will consist of 82 wind turbines producing 2 MW each — enough
electricity for 41,000 homes.
A second phase was announced on July 31, 2007.
It consists of 50 turbines producing 2 MW each, for a total of 100 MW of
capacity or enough electricity for 25,000 homes. It will be developed adjacent
to the existing site and is expected to come on line in 2008. Once both
phases of the project are complete, the Grant County wind facility will
provide power to more than 60,000 homes. (View a related news
release.)
At the Salem Harbor Station in Massachusetts, Dominion is
continuing test burns of paper-derived alternative fuels under authorizations
by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
In addition to these owned resources, Dominion has long-term
contracts to purchase renewable energy for resale from various renewable generators
throughout Virginia, including generators who make hydroelectric energy and
energy from the combustion of wood and wood waste (i.e., biomass),
combustion of landfill gas and combustion of municipal solid waste.
In addition to incorporating environmentally friendly generation
projects into our mix of power supply, Dominion offers our customers in Virginia
and North Carolina the opportunity to preferentially support green power options.
Since October 2003, Dominion North Carolina Power customers have been able to
participate in the NC
GreenPower program, contributing to the development and promotion of cleaner
power from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, small hydroelectric and biomass,
by paying a premium on their bill.
In Virginia, Energy
Choice enables Dominion Virginia Power’s customers to purchase energy
from competitive suppliers offering "green or renewable" energy products.
Suppliers may offer several energy products comprised of all renewable energy
or partially renewable energy with the remainder of the energy produced using
more traditional fuels. Typically, energy produced using renewable resources
will be priced at a premium. In 2008, Dominion Virginia Power plans to seek
approval from the State Corporation Commission to offer a green power tariff
to all classes of customers so homes and businesses can have the option to purchase
some or all of their electricity from renewable resources.
Dominion supported the Virginia General Assembly's passage
of legislation to re-regulate the state's electricity industry. As part of that
legislation, Virginia passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to encourage
the development of renewable energy in the Commonwealth. In support of this
standard, Dominion Virginia Power is developing plans to increase the amount
of renewable energy provided to customers based on the following schedule that
Dominion will be striving to achieve.
Year
2010-2015
2016-2021
2022
Goal (% of 2007 sales)
4%
7%
12%
In Virginia, renewable energy is defined as energy derived
from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, energy from waste, wave motion,
tides and geothermal power and does not include energy derived from coal, oil,
natural gas, pumped storage hydro, or nuclear.
Dominion also supported North Carolina's renewable energy
and energy efficiency legislation which was passed in the summer of 2007. This
requires that Dominion North Carolina Power sales in North Carolina in 2021
come from renewable energy sources according to the following schedule.
Year
2010-2011
2012-2014
2015-2017
2018-2020
2021
Goal
0.2% solar
3%
6%
10%
12.5%
In North Carolina, eligible energy resources include solar,
wind, small hydroelectric, wave energy, tidal energy, biomass, and landfill
gas.
Dominion is also a retail electricity supplier in a number
of states that have requirements that address renewable energy, and thus provides
customers in those states with renewable energy. More information can be found
in the summary of state requirements.
Finally, Dominion has supported and continues to support public
policy initiatives involving renewables.
Dominion actively supported the inclusion of net metering
in the Virginia Electric Utility Restructuring Act and worked closely with
the solar industry in drafting the language that was adopted. Dominion Virginia
Power now has in place procedures and rules allowing customers to take advantage
of this program.
Dominion has supported the continuation of Virginia tax
incentives for solar manufacturers. These tax incentives played a crucial
role in the Solarex facility being located in James City County Virginia and
the establishment of a sustainable energy commerce park in Cape Charles.
Dominion supported a study initiated in 2005 by the Virginia
Commission on Electric Utility Restructuring on the costs, benefits, and feasibility
of deployment of renewables and other environmentally beneficial technologies
in Virginia.
Dominion supported an allowance set aside for renewable
resources in rules to adopt the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) in Virginia.
Dominion’s nuclear
stations provide about a third of the power generated in Virginia. In Connecticut,
the Millstone
Power Station provides about 50 percent of the electricity used in the state.
In Wisconsin, the Kewaunee
Power Station provides nine percent of the electricity in the state. Annually,
the Millstone, Kewaunee, North
Anna and Surry
Power Stations combined provide enough electricity to supply more than 2
million homes, while displacing about 45 million tons of carbon dioxide, 200,000
tons of sulfur dioxide and 75,000 tons of nitrogen oxides that would have been
emitted to the air if that electricity had been generated by a fossil fuel station.
A byproduct of nuclear
generation is used fuel. The used fuel is removed from the reactor and
stored in thick concrete reinforced, stainless steel lined pools of
water that are specially built, in accordance with Nuclear Regulatory
Commission rules, to withstand earthquakes and other disastrous phenomena.
Another alternative, dry container storage, was first
licensed in the United States at the Surry Power Station. Dry storage
is another safe, secure alternative for interim storage. Now 24 nuclear
power sites around the country use this spent fuel storage alternative.
Other types of materials referred to as low-level
wastes, such as clothing and filters, can also be byproducts of these
operations.
Through our efforts at Dominion, the volumes of these
wastes generated have been substantially reduced.
A fuel assembly is being
lowered underwater into one
of Millstone's reactors.
The nuclear business unit has set pollution prevention goals
over the next four years to further reduce a variety of types of wastes at Dominion
stations.
