State Panel Skips Hearing on Mirant

Residents, City Testify for Plant's Closure

Members of a state environmental panel reviewing Mirant Corp. operations did not show up at a hearing in Alexandria on Monday night, angering City Council members and about 100 residents who had come to testify.

Alexandria officials have been engaged in a long-running campaign to shut down the Mirant plant, which they say has weak environmental controls and poses a health risk, so they were eager to testify at a state hearing over a new comprehensive operating permit being sought by Mirant for its plant on the Potomac River south of Reagan National Airport.

The officials had prepared testimony to present to the board of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, which was holding the hearing, but board members decided at the last minute not to attend the meeting. Bill Hayden, a spokesman for the department, said three members had said they would attend but changed their minds after Assistant Attorney General Carl Josephson, who provides legal counsel to the agency, advised against it.

Hayden said that although the meeting had been advertised as a public hearing, it was not the kind of event typically attended by board members. If they had attended, their participation might have been seen as a quorum, permitting a more official action to occur. However, he said, department employees attended the meeting and heard the testimony and would share it with the board.

Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille (D) said he was "disgusted" that the board members did not appear after having told city officials they would attend. City Attorney Ignacio B. Pessoa called it "the latest outrage by the agency." City officials said they had had rushed through city business at a meeting of their own to make it to the hearing on time.

Many of the residents who attended the meeting testified against the plant's permit and urged more restrictions on its operations. Some described the discomfort of living with itchy eyes, breathing difficulties and a dry cough, which they said was caused by pollution emitted by the coal-fired power plant. None spoke in favor of the plant's permit.

Alexandria officials and residents opposed to the plant, which provides electricity for areas in Maryland and the District, want tougher environmental controls placed on the 57-year-old plant.

"Virginia has not kept up with the standards of environmental regulation," said Alexandria resident and activist Elizabeth Chimento. "The Department of Environmental Quality has lost all of our public trust with these shenanigans."

Mirant has sued Virginia over restrictions that the Air Pollution Control Board has placed on sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant, Hayden said.

Under a consent decree negotiated by Mirant, the states of Maryland and Virginia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mirant is reducing its emissions at three plants in Maryland and the one in Alexandria. Pessoa, the city attorney, has said that the deal benefits Maryland and the District but is not good for Alexandria.

Mirant spokesman David Barney said that although the plant does not provide electricity directly to Northern Virginia, "indirectly everybody benefits from energy," he said.

Barney said that Mirant officials were also taken aback that the members of the environmental review panel did not attend the meeting.

"We were as surprised as everyone else," he said.

Mirant officials have said they are seeking to be a "good neighbor" to Alexandria.

"Mirant operates based on the rules and laws of both our state and federal environmental regulators," said Bob Driscoll, chief executive of Mirant's mid-Atlantic operations. "Every year since we began operating the plant, we have invested in scientific and engineering upgrades and expertise to ensure that we operate in full compliance. We have and continue to produce safe, reliable and affordable electricity."