SD29 - Report of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission


Executive Summary:
The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission continued to examine in 1991 many of the same key issues before it in 1990: power generation from nonutility power generation plants in the Southwest Virginia coalfields; funding of several state energy programs; and the impact of amendments to the federal Clean Air Act on the coal industry. In addition, the Commission focused on federal and state executive branch initiatives concerning energy production and conservation.

The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission studies all aspects of coal as an energy resource, and serves as a catalyst for the development of renewable and alternate energy sources. The Commission's focus and activities took on particular significance in 1991 as energy plans were announced by Virginia's Governor and by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In February 1991, the Bush Administration proposed a national energy strategy in a 217-page report prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy. The report presented a comprehensive proposal for increasing energy-use efficiency; securing reliable sources of future energy supplies; and reducing air, land and water pollution in the production and use of energy.

The Wilder Administration announced a three-year energy plan in September 1991 focused on energy efficiency and conservation. The plan targets agencies of the Commonwealth, endeavors to conserve energy resources while achieving economic savings, and promotes development of energy-savings plans at each agency.

The Commission received in-depth briefings on the national energy strategy and on the Wilder Administration's conservation plan. These briefings were put in context by additional briefings on a 1991 report prepared by the Division of Energy of the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. The report, entitled "Virginia Energy Patterns and Trends; Virginia Energy Profiles: 1960 to 1990," analyzed the production, distribution and consumption of energy in the Commonwealth during a thirty-year study period.

The Commission's Energy Preparedness Subcommittee was briefed on Virginia's energy trends as well as the accomplishments and funding of various state energy programs. The Subcommittee's members learned that funding from the federal Oil Overcharge Fund is dwindling, thereby necessitating cut-backs in vital state-run programs for energy assistance and weatherization programs for low-income individuals and families.

This subcommittee also learned that energy savings at state facilities have resulted from the efforts of the Department of General Services' Energy Audit Team. Since much of that team's budget had, until recently, come from federal Oil Overcharge Program funding, more state funding will be required to continue the team's operations.

The Coal Subcommittee met in Abingdon on January 2 and received presentations on the federal Clean Air Act amendments; a federal grant for construction of an electrical power cogeneration project in the Southwest Virginia coalfields; and the related issue of transmitting independently produced power. The Subcommittee was also updated on the progress of the State Corporation Commission's review of transmission line enhancements that may facilitate wheeling power from western Virginia to the east. These enhancements assumed even greater importance after the Subcommittee learned that the SCC had determined that the current regional power grid would probably lack the capacity to wheel power after 1998, and that the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research had concluded that transmitting power from a nonutility generator in Southwest Virginia to the Virginia Power service area by either direct or indirect means was not technically or economically feasible at this time.