VA Advocates Point Out Issues With Shitstain's Embrace Of Coal, i.e. A Plant Operating In 2023 At A $200 Million Loss
Advocates for renewable energy in Virginia took aim at a report that the U.S. Department of Energy issued last week on the reliability and security of the nation’s electric grid, faulting it for dated reliance on fossil fuels to meet skyrocketing energy demands from data centers and lacking public input. They noted that the 73-page report–an evaluation ordered by President Trump that champions coal, oil and gas–came at a time when a Dominion Energy-owned Mount Storm coal plant in West Virginia is costing Virginia ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars and exacerbating problems from the climate crisis. Additional orders by Trump to keep coal, oil and natural gas plants online could be forthcoming, advocates warned.
“They have botched their analysis,” said Frank Rambo, executive director of Horizon Climate Initiative, a nonprofit based in Charlottesville, Virginia, that works to make energy markets affordable and clean. “They’re really off the mark on it.”
Ryan O’Toole, co-executive director of Freedom Virginia, a nonprofit advocating for affordable medicine, housing and energy, pointed to the 1.6 gigawatt Mount Storm plant that operated at a $212 million loss in 2023, according to information from Rocky Mountain Institute, or RMI. “Action needs to be taken,” said O’Toole, noting that clean electricity is cheaper and increased flooding tied to the changing climate is also raising home insurance rates. “All options should be on the table in terms (of getting) new generation onto the grid,” he said.
Dominion Energy did not return requests for comment. The White House and the Department of Energy also did not respond. In a statement accompanying the report, Energy Secretary Chris Wright singled out policies leading to the retirement of coal plants and said: “President Trump’s administration is committed to advancing a strategy of energy addition, and supporting all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable, and secure.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16072025/energy-department-grid-reliability-report-dominion-coal/