by Jon Liss
Yesterday’s earthquake hit 7 miles from Virginia’s North Anna Nuclear Power plant. The power was cut off and the nuclear plant shut down. That was good. But how close where we to the kind of disaster that you only see on sci-fi movies? You know the one – you and your loved ones are sitting in a 50 mile traffic jam as clouds of radioactive waste blow quickly in your direction. Unless you’re a superhero these movies don’t usually have a happy ending. If the earthquake had been a little longer or stronger where would you be today?
Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna power plant is less than 20 miles from the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake.
Why are we splitting the atom to boil water? We’re living in an age when it is technologically possible to get energy that is clean and renewable. Electricity can be generated by the sun, wind, the residual heat of the earth, tides, and more. Yet in Virginia we get one third of our electricity from nuclear power and another third from coal. When it comes to power we choose between dangerous and dirty. Less than 4% of electricity is generated by renewable sources —mostly through burning biofuels (trash). This just makes no sense.
In Virginia, a state that is always friendly to business, if you follow the money trail you can usually get an answer. A quick scroll through the internet showed me that electricity is a state regulated industry. A government commission “balances the interests of citizens, business and consumers” as it regulates the industry. Dominion Resources is the dominant electric company. Hmmm…maybe we’re on to something. Then I scrolled to the Dominion Resources profit page and see that they made a cool $2.8 billion last year. Hmmm…the plot thickens….and Dominion Resources profit rate of 10.6% seems like a pretty hefty return for a state regulated industry.
Damage in Miller's Mart, a food store in Mineral, Va., close to the quake's epicenter.
This puzzle is coming together. State regulation. High profits. Dangerous and dirty electricity generation. Let’s see what’s the relationship between the energy giant and quasi-monopoly Dominion Resources and our state’s elected officials? So far this year Dominion Resources has given almost $800,000 to elected officials from both the Republican and Democratic Parties. If you’re elected and want to see the ballgame, call Dominion. If your personal well is running dry, call Dominion. If Dominion’s line is busy, then call king Coal which has donated over $700,000 to elected officials from both major parties. It appears that our energy dependence on dirty and dangerous coal and nuclear power is connected to both political parties dependence on dirty energy’s money.
Yesterday was a close call. We might not be so lucky next time. We need to break our dependence on dirty and dangerous energy. We need a robust and mandatory renewable energy policy. Our elected representatives also need to break their dependence on dangerous and dirty energy money. Cold turkey. Now. Tell Dominion to spend some of their profits and profligate political donations on solar, wind and geothermal energy. No more dirty and dangerous political money or energy.
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