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Coal Plants in Virginia

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The one new conventional coal plant proposed to be built in Virginia is projected by NRDC to generate 173,473 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 184 tons of toxic metals. Virginia ranks 25th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 24th in toxic metals from those plants.

Virginia ranks 19th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 2,329,200 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 18th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 1,877 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in Virginia

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Dominion	Wise	173,472	184

Statistics for Existing Plants in Virginia

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Clover	Dominion Virginia Power	Halifax	485,200	100.0%	402
Chesterfield	Dominion Virginia Power	Chesterfield	348,400	92.6%	413
Chesapeake	Dominion Virginia Power	Chesapeake	290,000	100.0%	201
Clinch River	Appalachian Power Co	Russell	233,300	68.1%	208
Covanta Fairfax Energy	Covanta Energy	Fairfax	200,000	100.0%	No Data
Cogentrix of Richmond	Spruance Operating Services LLC	Richmond City	158,000	100.0%	114
Birchwood Power Facility	Birchwood Power Partners LP	King George	118,000	100.0%	55
Yorktown	Dominion Virginia Power	York	101,900	100.0%	112
Potomac River	Mirant Corp	Alexandria City	92,700	99.4%	97
Glen Lyn	Appalachian Power Co	Giles	90,300	100.0%	86
Bremo Bluff	Dominion Virginia Power	Fluvanna	85,000	100.0%	87
Cogentrix Hopewell (James River Cogeneration Co.)	Cogentrix Energy	Hopewell City	46,000	100.0%	54
Cogentrix Virginia Leasing Corporation (Portsmouth)	Cogentrix Energy	Portsmouth City	42,000	100.0%	49
West Point Mill	Smurfit-Stone Corp	King William	38,400	100.0%	No Data

Percent of waste disposed indicates the proportion of contaminated coal waste disposed of in landfills, ponds, or on- or off-site disposal facilities. For detailed information on how each plant reported its waste disposal in 2005, see the detailed data Excel spreadsheet.

Sources: Permit applications for new plants; Energy Information Administration data; NRDC estimates. The most recent data available from the EIA is from 2005 and it is possible that operational changes at particular plants will have changed the yearly waste volumes and disposal methods. Click here for detailed glossary of terms and our methodology.

last revised 3/12/2009