(RICHMOND, VA)—Yesterday the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) filed comments with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality on a draft permit for a proposed natural gas-fired power plant at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia.
CBF Virginia Executive Director Peggy Sanner issued the following statement.
“The emissions from this proposed facility would add a new source of nitrogen pollution to the Chesapeake Bay just as Virginia tries to meet its Clean Water Blueprint pollution-reduction deadline by 2025. Building a new fossil fuel plant now makes no sense at a time when Virginia is transitioning to cleaner, renewable energy sources in the face of climate change.
“This new gas-fired plant would be built in a predominantly African-American community overwhelmed by industrial pollution. The health of people who live in Portsmouth is already threatened by extreme concentrations of toxic waste from the nine Superfund sites within a 15-mile radius. This plant would deal another blow to the community.
“The proposed plant at Portsmouth must undergo a meaningful environmental justice review that takes into account the cumulative threats of the many nearby existing sources of pollution. With so many people potentially in harm’s way, and so many outstanding issues, this permit must go before the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board.”
