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Afternoon! We’re back at the state Air Board meeting in review of the proposed permit for a fracked-gas pose plant in Charles City Va. My two morning threads are quoted below. I’ll keep tweeting as long as I have battery. We’re about to launch public comment. #NoCPS
If you’re just joining us, “Bob” is super bummed about my tweets, and is interested in hearing more nuance from me. Alas.
To recap, @VirginiaDEQ staff are advocating for the project to move forward. Repping DEQ is former private utility attorney Mike Dowd. He has been remarkably willing to go on record as saying that no outreach was done to Af Am communities because he could not find them on Google.
And DEQ is arguing that the public was fully informed of the project because one (1) community member was available at informational sessions, and had several long conversations with DEQ reps.
Public comment is open. No new speakers, no new information. No more than 3 mins / speaker. They are capping comment today at 1.5 hrs.
Speaker 1 is a resident of Charles City County. He is chair of the board of supervisors. He is speaking on behalf of the station.
He is upset that there has been negative media coverage about the plant’s anticipated emissions and he opposes the feedback he had received from the public in his capacity as a BoS representative. He says the public is responsible for staying informed, and they have not done so.
Speaker 2 is Chief Adkins of the Chickahominy tribe. He also noted he had received many emails in opposition to the tribes endorsement of this project. He notes his relationship with the DEQ members, however, is long standing. He endorses the project.
Chief Adkins notes that his endorsement of the project stems in part from his concern that if there is not a gas-powered plant, it will be a coal plant. Finally, he stated that local asthma rates are tied to allergens like pets and mold, not pollution.
Speaker 3 is the one citizen who attended the public information session! We’ve been hearing about this guy all day!! Fascinatingly, despite the assurances of DEQ staff, he does NOT endorse the project. He cited pollutants and public health concerns.
He states that there has been no public outreach and suppression of public engagement. He states that in addition to today’s speakers, there is a line of Charles City residents who are here to speak against the permit, but have been denied.
Finally, he states that it is clear there will be adverse effects in minority populations and working-class and working-poor residents. He also says the DEQ data on wealth is not in line with census data. Also he’s a school board rep, and cites affects in children.
Speaker 4 is a former state board member in the health and pharmacy fields. She is speaking today on economic considerations. She argues we are experiencing economic disruption due to performance of renewable energy sources.
She states that Virginia’s economy is reliant on data storage facilities, the managers of which are demanding renewable energy sources for their own business and marketing needs. She opposes costly fossil fuel infrastructure, which is not an economically viable model long-term.
Speaker 5 is an attorney in behalf of the @vasierraclub. He notes that key information needed to support these projects hasn’t been made available to the public. He also states that the permit applicant has not been in compliance with public hearing mandates.
He states the emails from the DEQ make it clear that the applicant was not in compliance of the legal requirement that they be on site at informational sessions to answer questions about emissions. He states it’s clear there was no substantive public outreach.
Finally he makes it clear that the DEQ’s assessment of public health and environmental impact does not meet standards for civil rights law. He notes that some of the pollutants here show adverse effects for any incremental increases in exposure.
In response to questions Attorney from the Sierra club says for the permitting process to be legally compete it needs to repeat the informational session within legal parameters and reopen public comment.
Speaker 6 is a Richmond resident. She expresses concern about the clear lack of engagement with Charles City residents on the permit. Knocking doors there she found very little awareness of the permit process. She notes today’s meeting is largely inaccessible to working families.
She continues to note there is a broader concern about environmental impact. She noted this will put short term profit over long-term impact. She notes this is not democratic governance and not in support of transparency or public engagement.
Finally, she notes that as a younger speaker she will be left with the devestation of projects like these. Applause.
Speaker 7 works at the University of Richmond. She says the pressure to vote is coming from a private company, not public process. She says that this process is one of the worst she has ever seen. She says the only comparable permit process is the one in Buckingham.
She notes Charles City county is more than 50% residents of color and, like Buckingham, unjustly targeted for this type of risky project. She says the newspaper announcements were small and impossible to see. Today, there people who want to speak and are being denied.
Finally she says this process was designed to exclude the public. It’s not enough to check boxes when one person shows up, the public is demanding real inclusion in the process. She says the board, if they won’t delay, must vote against.
Speaker 7 is on 🔥. If they can’t even manage legal requirements for public outreach “this company is not prepared to run the largest gas plant in the commonwealth.”
Question for speaker 7 on demographic analysis. DEQ says not a minority majority population, advocates say otherwise. What’s the gap? DEQ using county averages not immediate site data.
Speaker 8 is speaking for local parents and speaking with the minutes of a parent who had to leave due to the long run of the meeting. She notes that children are seeing disproportionate effects of living with excess exposure to pollutants.
She notes the explosion of the gas power station in Philadelphia is an example of the risks local populations will be burdened with and notes that emergency services in Charles City are inadequate to respond to this level of crisis.
Board asks how emergency response infrastructure could be remedied.
Speaker: look at the images from Philadelphia. There aren’t adequate resources to respond to this.
Speaker: look at the images from Philadelphia. There aren’t adequate resources to respond to this.
Speaker 9 is a retired epidemiologist and organized with Va Physicians for Climate Action. This org is concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, broader pollutant emissions, and broader impacts of climate change on public health.
She says health infrastructure is already seeing strain from increased health problems from climate change. She says these stressors combine with other lower health outcomes for communities of color.
DEQ analysis does not look at dosage, emission exposure over time, and vulnerability of exposed. These are core public health concerns that reveal the particular vulnerabilities of immediate population. She is also speaking as a citizen of the commonwealth, not just a doctor.
She says personally she is horrified to see the same problems in Charles City as we saw in Buckingham. She asks why they have not learned from citizen advocacy or pending lawsuits. She says DEQ is showing total disinterest to vulnerable populations and public good.
Honestly her testimony of the harm caused by particulate matter is so concerning and her obvious exhaustion with this process is heartbreaking.
Speaker 10 is the Va Program Manager at @AppVoices. He is focused on the fact that this is the second permit for a high emission power station within a mile of a site permitted last year. He states this doubling of permitted sites indicates disproportionate impact.
He echoes the arguments of other speakers that percent minority populations are much higher at the proposed site than in the county’s average. He notes looking at the immediate site radius shows clear disproportionate impact on black and indigenous populations.
Speaker 11 is a volunteer with Interfaith Climate Justice. She is describing all the things she needed to be able to track process and give her feedback: understanding of policy and process, ability to read and parse documents, reliable internet access, etc.
She notes that canvassing in Charles City made it clear that rural areas lack many of these benefits and are begging treated as sacrificial zones for private profit. One resident said “We don’t want to be another Hopewell.” Residents know they are mistreated, and lack recourse.
Speaker 11 lists the health problems she has seen canvassing. The list of adverse health effects one canvasser has seen is ... incredibly long. She asks why the Air Board and DEQ act in alignment with corporate interests.
Speaker 12 is MY COLLEAGUE @VCU_FI! Love to her. She is sharing comments from Cedar Grove Baptist Church, members and clergy. The congregation learned is this meeting only 6 days ago. They could not attend today due to short notice.
Cedar Grove clerk notes that her job is to communicate to members. She had been a member of that faith community for 25 years. She was denied the opportunity to do her duty to the membership by DEQ, which did not reach out to this church.
This whole faith community has sent messages. Speaker 12 had three minutes to represent them. This is a travesty.
Speaker 13 is from Zero Carbon Virginia. He is speaking to the need for carbon free data centers to meet the needs of businesses in Virginia. He is listing companies like Adobe that are issuing letters in opposition to fossil fuel reliant power stations.
Remember: the rep from DEQ said they googled churches. Decided not to reach out because he “couldn’t tell which we’re black.” 
Speaker 14 is speaking on behalf of the power station. He thanks community members who are here. He says this project is the “most advanced” power production tech available today. He cites low water use and emission caps.
Speaker 14 says this site was originally targeted in 1999 but that project fell through because of Enron. I am not making this up. He also says the told the public. He says that he trusts his testimony “fully addresses that issue.”
This thread picks up here:
