Dominion Resources

Cash Buys Elections—and Continued Fossil Fuel Dominance

By Wenonah Hauter

Last week, the fossil fuel industry successfully squashed several local measures it didn't like—thanks to the more than $100 million it shelled out to oppose them.

Initiatives to rein in fracking failed in Colorado, where the industry spent a whopping $40 million (outspending advocates 40-1) and in San Luis Obispo County, where a measure to ban fracking lost in the face of $8 million in industry cash (proponents of the measure spent only $240,000). An Arizona initiative to mandate 50 percent renewable energy by 2050 failed, thanks to $30 million in energy cash to fight it. And, despite increasingly touting its approval for carbon taxes with modest funding of greenwashing groups like the Climate Leadership Council, the industry spent $30 million to oppose a carbon tax initiative in Washington.

The fossil fuel industry is doing more of the same in many states across the country, including Virginia. A new Food & Water Watch report out now looks at Dominion Energy's outsized influence in the state—how it buys policy, buys elections and squashes renewable energy to further its profits.

One of the ways Dominion buys policy in Virginia is through its multi-million dollar political and lobbying operation. Since 1998, the company has built the infrastructure to buy off policy and is the biggest corporate contributor to political campaigns in Virginia—with its political action committee and employees plowing more than $10 million into Virginia campaign coffers. Whether it's meals, cocktails, sporting tickets or other associated spending, it's repeatedly bought access to policy through the state's elected officials.

Dominion's primary interests have been in pushing policies that ensure they won't be regulated. Between 2017 and 2018, the company increased its lobbying and advertising expenditures 10-fold while pushing to enact a law that would ensure Virginia ratepayers would pay more for polluting fossil energy. It also spent more than $4 million on ads this year promoting its legislative agenda to build out more fossil fuel infrastructure—like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline—and its acquisition of SCANA, a South Carolina utility that brought with it a portfolio of coal- and gas-fired power plants.

Poisonous coal ash and climate pollution aren't Dominion's only toxic legacy in the state: its lobbying machine worked to obstruct clean energy initiatives as well. The company has successfully thwarted popular and progressive energy measures, ensuring, for example, that utilities (like its subsidiary, Virginia Power) would be gatekeepers for community-based solar projects instead of allowing churches and other community organizations to develop their own. This is a move to keep them stuck in the polluting fossil fuel system from which the company extracts great profits that keep them powerful.

And this is just in Virginia. Nationally, Dominion dumped at least $59 million into state and federal political advocacy, including campaign contributions, gifts and lobbying since 1998. In the late 1990s, Dominion joined disgraced energy company Enron in a national fight to deregulate utilities so that they could instead implement a market-based scheme to separate electricity distribution from power generation, essentially taking energy out of the realm of "public good" and into the realm of commodity. We know how well that worked out: Enron went bankrupt from the scheme, a development that also saddled Dominion with nearly $100 million in losses. But the damage had been done for ratepayers nationwide, with the Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 entrenching the deregulation these companies sought—the same legislation that enshrined the "Halliburton Loophole" into federal law exempting frackers from federal drinking water protections. Dominion is also investing in infrastructure to connect its facilities to fracked gas from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Industry influence can mean the difference between a renewable future or more climate-throttling fossil fuel infrastructure. In Virginia, local advocates are taking the fight to Dominion's doorstep—and their cronies in the statehouse. We're joining with Virginia NAACP, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, People Demanding Action, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, League of United Latin American Citizens—Richmond, and others to pass legislation just introduced by state delegates Sam Rasoul and Elizabeth Guzman to transition the state to 100 percent renewables by 2035.

We're ready for the fight ahead because we have no choice but to ensure that Dominion, and the industry as a whole, doesn't win. We must begin the transition off of fossil fuels immediately if we want to protect our communities and avert the worst of catastrophic climate change ahead.

Wenonah Hauter is executive director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18052018/atlantic-coast-pipeline-natural-gas-civil-rights-environmental-justice-epa

Afederal court has invalidated a key permit for the Atlantic Coast pipeline project, a step that could give civil rights advocates more time to build their environmental justice case against the $6 billion project to carry natural gas from West Virginia to North Carolina.

Opponents of the Atlantic Coast pipeline allege the Dominion Energy-led project would have a disproportionate impact on people of color living along its route.

A group of community and statewide advocacy groups in North Carolina, along with the national Friends of the Earth, filed a complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's External Civil Rights Compliance Office on Tuesday asking the agency to overturn North Carolina state permits for the pipeline and for a new environmental justice analysis of it.

On the same day, a three-judge panel in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the pipeline, known as an "incidental take limit." The judges ruled that that permit, designed to limit the number of threatened or endangered species that could be harmed or killed during the pipeline's construction and operation, was too vague and could not be enforced.

Dominion Energy said the decision only covered parts of the proposed 600-mile project and that the company will move forward with constructionas scheduled.

The community and environmental groups, meanwhile, say state and federal agencies failed to assess disproportionate health impacts the proposed pipeline project would have on minorities as required under the Civil Rights Act.

They assert that an analysis by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission erred in how it compared state, county and local community data in ways that disguised the real discriminatory effect of the route.

t Young-Allen, a spokeswoman for FERC, the agency that conducted the environmental justice assessment, declined to comment saying she can't discuss matters that are pending before a final decision by the commision.

The commission approved the pipeline in October, but has since received multiple requests from environmental groups and landowners for a rehearing of that decision.

The pipeline's challengers cite an outside environmental justice assessment completed in March by RTI International, a North Carolina nonprofit, working with local environmental groups that provided input.

"As most of the North Carolina counties along the proposed ACP corridor have communities of color significantly above the state average, this decision greatly minimizes the apparent disproportionality in minorities impacted," the complaint letter filed on Tuesday stated.

'Same Strategy Over and Over'

Mary Finley-Brook, a professor of geography and the environment at the University of Richmond, published a study earlier this month in the academic journal Energy Research & Social Sciencethat looked at cases of environmental injustice across the Atlantic Coast pipeline's route. Finley-Brook said impacts on low-income and minority populations were downplayed by developers and signed off by federal and state regulators all along the pipeline's route.

The pipeline's developers took the same approach in North Carolina, she argued, as they took in Buckingham County Virginia. There, they've proposed siting a large compressor station to push gas through the line next to a predominantly African American community. "It is the same strategy over and over," she said.

A 2017 report by Physicians for Social Responsibility found such compressor stations pose significant health risks and have resulted in symptoms "ranging from skin rashes to gastrointestinal, respiratory, neurological and psychological problems."

The Buckingham County facility, according to the company's state permit, would release 32 tons of volatile organic compounds and 43 tons of particulate matter, small dust particles linked to respiratory diseases. The proposal is still wending its way through the approvals process.

"For the compressor station, the FERC application said the Buckingham population density was 29.9 people per mile and people of color were less than half," Finley-Brook said. "Within a mile of the compressor, there are 99 households and 85% are African American."

Finley's study drew, in part, on prior research looking at cases of environmental injustice against Native Americans and low-income farmers related to the pipeline. Thirteen percent of those living in close proximity to the pipeline in North Carolina are Native American, in a state where only 1.2 percent of the population is Native American, according to findings first published in the academic journal Science.

When seizing land for the pipeline through a legal tactic known as eminent domain, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline targeted low-income farmers with small land holdings, according to findings first published in North Carolina Central Law Review.

An International Airing

Concerns about the pipeline's impact on low-income and minority communities had an international airing on Wednesday, when The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, a forum focused on human rights violations, heard testimony related to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline, another gas pipeline facing various legal challenges and protests.

"Both ACP and MVP [Mountain Valley Pipeline] disproportionately target people and places that are majority rural, low-income and majority African American [and] Native American," Lakshmi Fjord, chair of a local Virginia chapter of the People's Tribunal, said in a statement....

dominion reed smith _ llp rev door

https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/07/12/week-after-leaving-ferc-former-commissioner-honorable-joins-firm-lobbying-company-behind-atlantic-coast-pipeline

Last week at the monthly meeting of the five Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, DC, a group of 20Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) activists took action. Two people, myself and Ellen Taylor, attempted to read the statement below just before the meeting began, but as Ellen began to speak FERC security moved on the two of us and moved us out of the room and out the front door of the building.

But BXE wasn’t done.

Several minutes later, right after the pledge of allegiance, a dozen other red-shirted BXE’ers scrambled from their seats up to the front of the room, right next to the table where the commissioners sit. They sat down, locked arms and began chanting, “Stop construction at Cove Point.” As the FERC Commissioners hastily got up and left the room, the people chanting were also moved by security.

When we were all back together outside the front of the building, we walked down to the part of the building closest to where the meeting was being held and chanted once more for several minutes as loudly as we could.

The statement below explains why we took this action.

As has been true for every one since their November, 2014 meeting, we will be at their April meeting and then, in very large numbers, at the one on May 21, the first day of our nine days of action and getting organized in DC.

Beyond Extreme Energy statement at March 19, 2015 FERC Commissioners Meeting

FERC Commissioners:

Here we are again—Beyond Extreme Energy at your monthly meeting. We are here about thepermit you granted on Sept. 29 last year to Dominion to build facilities for the liquefaction and export of natural gas at Cove Point in Lusby, Maryland.

On Oct. 15 FERC’s granting of this permit was appealed administratively, as it was necessary to do. By then Dominion had begun construction of their planned LNG export terminal, with FERC’s approval and blessing, and they have been doing so ever since.

By law, you were required to answer the administrative appeal within a month. You did so by giving yourself an extension of time to give an answer to this appeal, as you have done many, many times with other gas infrastructure expansion projects. And as has been true for those projects, it is now going on half a year of your coming to a decision on this appeal, and Dominion just keeps building and building.

As you know, the Cove Point residents cannot go to court to challenge the granting of this permit until you rule on the appeal. You also know that, to the best of our knowledge, you have rarely, if ever, in recent years certainly, decided to overturn your initial granting of a FERC gas infrastructure expansion permit.

And by the way, this issue was raised almost two years ago in a meeting Ted Glick took part in with then-Chair Jon Wellinghoff, and it was raised in meetings with Chair LaFleur last June and just two weeks ago, and nothing has changed.

Efforts have been made by the use of peaceful, nonviolent direct action at the construction sites to address this situation; 27 people who took action in this way last November and December were convicted and sentenced last month, and just last week they received a nasty letter from Dominion telling them that if they step onto Dominion property anywhere in the USA, they could face criminal prosecution.

You are continuing to allow Dominion to proceed with construction while simultaneously asking for a lot of new information from them—why didn’t you ask for this before you granted the permit in the first place? You are taking months to rule on local residents’ request for a rehearing. You are refusing to rule on a request from their legal team to stay all construction while FERC considers their request for a rehearing. The combined result of this is that Dominion gets to construct for many months before the case gets heard before the Court of Appeals. As has been true with other projects, that could make for a prejudicial situation when it finally gets into court.

We are here to demand that you do what is right by the people of Lusby, Md. and order Dominion to stop construction. We demand that you amend your agenda for this meeting to include that item. FERC, stop construction at Cove Point!

11/14

Despite ongoing opposition from area residents, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) has approved the conversion of the Dominion Cove Point liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in southern Maryland from an import to an export facility. The decision also authorizes the installation of additional compression at Dominion’s Pleasant Valley Compressor Station and related facilities in Northern Virginia.

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WASHINGTON -- A giant of coal-fired power won a $1.6 million lease to build the first wind farm off the coast of Virginia on Wednesday, a development that renewable energy advocates are cheering.

Dominion Virginia Power (subsidiary; same as coal.nat gas co?] had the winning bid on 112,800 acres of land 27 miles off Virginia's coast. Bidding on the plot went for six rounds, escalating from a starting offer of just $225,600. Dominion's final bid topped that of Charlottesville, Va.-based Apex Clean Energy.

"I'm very pleased with the sale and the vigor of the competition," said Tommy Beaudreau, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, in a call with reporters following the sale.

The bureau, a division of the Department of the Interior, estimates that the lease area can produce up to 2,000 megawatts of wind power, enough to provide electricity for 700,000 homes.

Dominion is currently developing two six-megawatt pilot turbines through a grant from the Department of Energy at a site adjacent to the lease. The company expects to have the test turbines up and running by 2017 in what will be its first wind power project. Dominion estimates it will be 10 years before it puts any turbines on the plot it won Wednesday.

For the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, this is the second offshore wind lease auction. The first, held in July, was for 165,000 acres off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Deepwater Wind, an offshore-focused company, had the winning bid

The lease auctions are the first step in the construction of offshore wind farms. So far, there are no utility-scale wind farms in the outer continental shelf of the U.S. But the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated that up to 54 gigawatts could come from offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 18 million homes. Beaudreau said that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management expects to hold lease auctions for areas off the coasts of Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey in the coming year.

Dominion Virginia Power and its parent company, Dominion Resources, are best known as major users of coal for electricity generation, making the venture into wind power significant. "It's just too big of a resource," company spokesman Jim Norvelle told The Huffington Post. "We've got to look at this."

The project, Norvelle said, would aim to bring down the cost of wind power. "Right now, it is expensive to do," he said. "That's why we're involved. We think it could be beneficial to customers if the price is right."

By comparison, Dominion recently built a 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Wise County, Va. If the company builds a wind farm that exploits the full identified potential of the plot in Wednesday's auction, it would be enough to replace more than three such coal-fired power plants.

Offshore wind remains a "huge untapped resource," said Rob Sargent, director of the clean energy program at the environmental group Environment America. "The interest we're seeing now from even companies like Dominion is a very good sign."

"We have a heavy reliance on coal-fired power in the Southeast," said David Carr, general counsel for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "It would be great to get some of these installations up and running." kate s via huffpo

Shareholder Vote a Loud Signal to Va. Utility on Climate Concerns

Virginia resident Ruth McElroy Amundsen has been using shareholder activism at Dominion Resources Inc., Virginia's largest emitter of greenhouse gases to spur action on climate change.

She has helped spark a growing movement to pressure Dominion to respond to global warming concerns. Last month, shareholders representing nearly a quarter of Dominion's shares voted "yes" on a proposal to require the utility to report to investors on the financial risks that climate change poses to its business.

That wasn't enough to pass the resolution, but it was by far the highest number of "yes" votes ever cast for a climate resolution to Dominion. It was a surprising result, the activists say, because the company has been particularly resistant to climate and renewable energy policies.

Read the story.

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dominion

Dominion is a giant in energy production. The Richmond, Virginia-based company focuses on electricity, coal and gas, and most recently, nuclear. It is involved in the controversial practice of fracking for methane gas in the Northeastern U.S. in the Marcellus Shale region. Dominion is also one of the biggest producers of coal in the U.S., with the majority of mines located in West Virginia. (More information about its coal production can be found below at the Dominion Coal Production section on this page.) Though lauded as an environmentally-friendly alternative to coal, fracking for gas has been linked to depleting drinking water resources of local communities and polluting the wells of the people living around drill sites. According to a 2010 article in Vanity Fair, "as use of the technique (fracking) has spread, it has been followed by incidents of water contamination and environmental degradation, and even devastating health problems." ^[1] And according to data released to the EPA, Halliburton, a major supplier of fracking fluid, admitted using 807,000 gallons of diesel-based chemicals in its fluids, in violation of an agreement drillers had with the EPA.^[2]

Contents[hide]

Executive Summary

Dominion and its subsidiaries - Dominion North Carolina Power, Dominion Virginia Power, Dominion East Ohio, Dominion Hope, Dominion Peoples, Dominion Cove Point LNG, Dominion Clearinghouse, Dominion Exploration & Production, Dominion Gathering-Producer Services, Dominion Generation, Dominion Retail, Dominion Technical Solutions and Dominion Transmission - account for the majority of power east of the Mississippi. Dominion Exploration and Production, Dominion Peoples and Dominion Transmission are the subsidiaries that focus on fracking. It also owns the nation’s largest methane gas storage system. ^[3] In 2010, Dominion sold the majority of its Marcellus land leases and wells to CONSOL/CNX and PNG. It has been reporting annual revenues of between $14.8 billion and $16 billion a year over the past five years and its CEO is one of the wealthiest executives in the U.S., with a net worth of over $2 billion. Dominion has also been accused of polluting private drinking water by contaminating it with methane gas. Dominion and its executives have also been very active in making partisan political donations, predominantly in favor of Republicans. This company, headquartered in Virginia, has invested significant funds in elections in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, all states with large shale deposits, and its PAC was a major spender in the election of the new governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett.

Sale of Dominion Peoples

On February 1, 2010, Dominion closed on an agreement to sell its Dominion Peoples, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based methane gas distribution subsidiary, to PNG Companies, LLC for $780 million."^[4] Dominion expects to bring in $542 million after taxes and plans to use the money to reduce the company’s debt."^[4] Dominion chairman, president, and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II stated, “We are not leaving Pennsylvania by any means. We are expanding our large natural gas transportation and storage system in the state to handle the influx of gas from the Marcellus Shale and other new sources.”^[4]

Sale of Exploration & Production to CONSOL Energy

On March 15, 2010, CONSOL announced the purchase of Dominion’s Exploration & Production business for $3.475 billion.^[5] The sale included 193 employees working for Dominion.^[5][6] The transaction includes 1.46 million acres for oil and gas drilling with over 9,000 already-producing wells. This transaction includes 491,000 acres of land in the Marcellus shale formation of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and almost triples the amount of land rights CONSOL owns in the Marcellus area. According to CONSOL’s press release, this purchase will make the company the largest producer of natural gas in the Appalachian basin and give CONSOL “a leading position” in the Marcellus area. Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company were financial advisors for CONSOL, while Barclays Capital Inc. advised Dominion.^[5][6] Legal counsel for CONSOL came from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field LLP.^[6] Baker Botts LLP served as Dominion’s legal adviser.^[5]

Partisan Political Activity

Although Dominion has donated to campaigns on both sides of the aisle since it began drilling and transporting liquified methane gas in the Marcellus Shale, the majority of its political donations has gone to pro-fracking Republicans. 2010 was the biggest year in gas and oil political contributions by corporations hoping to encourage lawmakers to continue with the lax restrictions surrounding methane gas drilling.^[7] Nowhere is this seen more than in Pennsylvania, where the majority of the Macellus Shale area lies. According to MarcellusMoney.org, a project of Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, $339,694.00 was donated by executives and Dominion's PAC in the Marcellus region.

Dominion Resources has been involved in seeking legislation to deregulate retail electric service in Virginia. In 2007, the Virginia General Assembly adopted legislation to "reregulate" but granted various rate concessions in connection with this new legislation, including the indexing of rates to measurers of inflation, thereby reducing the need to seek the Virginia State Corporation Commission's approval of rate increases. Dominion is also one of the largest energy company contributors to both Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress. These contributions total $407,999 to the 110th US Congress (as of the third quarter), the largest of which has been to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) for $47,150.^[8] Rep. Cantor, for his part, has consistently voted with the coal industry on energy, war and climate bills.

More information on coal industry contributions to Congress can be found at FollowtheCoalMoney.org, a project sponsored by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Oil Change International and Appalachian Voices.

Corporate Political Action Committee

Between 2009 - 2010, Dominion's PAC gave $107,770 to candidates and PAC front groups who support the lax laws surrounding fracking in the Marcellus Shale region. $30,000 of that went to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee and $30,000 went to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Another $5,000 went to a PAC called GAS.^[9]

Open Secrets shows that in 2010, Dominion's PAC contributed $1.1 million to mainly Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas candidates running for Congress and Senate. The 2008 election year saw just under $1 million spent on candidates and PACs.

The biggest recipients of Dominion's PAC were: Senator Don White (R-Pa and Environmental Resources and Energy Committee member), Senator Joseph Scarnati (R-Pa), Governor Tom Corbett (R-Pa), Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa and member of the Subcommittee on Environment and Economy), Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Dominic Pileggi (R-Pa and Majority Floor Leader).

The Dominion Political Action Committee has also been very active in donating to Virginia candidates. In 2007, the Dominion PAC donated $775,000, which was split evenly between Republican and Democratic candidates.^[10] In 2008 it contributed $675,000 to candidates, with 47% to Democratic Party candidates and 50% to Republican Party candidates.^[11]

Political Donations by Company Execs

Board members and senior management have donated large amounts of money to Dominion's political action committee, also called "Dominion Leadership Fund" and "Dominion Leadership Trust."

Here is a list of company executives and what they have donated:

CEO and Chairman Thomas Farrell: $541,186 since 1995.
CEO of Dominion Generation David A. Christian: $69,900
Executive Vice President of Dominion Resources, Inc. and CEO of Dominion Virginia Power Paul D. Koonce: $68,770
Executive Vice President and CFO Mark McGettrick: $50,482
CEO of Dominion Energy Gary L. Sypolt: $32,500
Vice President of Northeast Gas Basins Benjamin A. Hardesty: $15,267
Senior Vice President of Dominion Transmission Paul Ruppert:$12,862
Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dominion East Ohio Anne E. Bomar: $8,750

Searches were done on Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia State Campaign Finance sites.

Lobbying

Between 2007 and 2009, $831,699 in lobbying cash was given to politicians by Dominion, according to Common Cause's "Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets" report released in May 2010.^[12]

Open Secrets shows a more comprehensive list and totals lobbying contributions at $1.7 million for 2010. The bulk of the money went to Dominion's PAC and $45,000 went to McGuireWoods LLP. 2009 saw an even higher lobbying price tag: $2.1 million.

Front Groups

Dominion is a supporter of several special interest groups that push for expanded drilling rights and limited or no regulation of fracking.

The company is a member of: West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association,^[13] Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia,^[14] Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation,^[15] Southern Gas Association,^[16] American Gas Association,^[17] Virginia Coal and Energy Commission,^[18] Virginia Coal and Economic Development Authority,^[19] and the Marcellus Shale Coalition.^[20]

Claimed Violations of Safety Rules or Other Laws

Health and Safety Violations Alleged

2008: In Daisytown, Pennsylvania, "Dominion Exploration and Production drilled two shallow wells on Terry Greenwood's cattle farm in late 2007 and early 2008 on a lease tied to the property since 1921. After the company hydraulically fractured the wells, the water in Greenwood's kitchen turned brown and salty and showed elevated levels of manganese. Dominion installed a filtration system in a shed, but the well did not produce enough water to operate the system, said Dan Donovan, a Dominion spokesman. DEP found that Dominion's activities impacted the family's water and in March 2008, it ordered the company to replace the Greenwoods' supplies. The year of the drilling, the family lost ten of the 18 calves that were born in a nine-month stretch; four were born with pure white eyes, another with a cleft pallet. Some were stillborn, some stood for a day or two before collapsing. Others bled from the nose."

"Greenwood suspects contamination in the pond where the calves' mothers watered, which collected runoff from the uphill gas site and turned brown during the drilling. DEP told the couple the rash of deaths was "the luck of the farmer," Greenwood's wife, Kathryn, said. The agency attributed the deaths to E. coli bacteria in the pond from fecal matter, which can cause ocular problems in fetal cows."^[21]

2006: Dominion's Cove Point LNG Terminal is located near Lusby, Maryland, and it receives imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) and also stores gas. In 2006, FERC authorized a further expansion of Cove Point's import capacity on an unregulated basis, with Statoil holding the expanded capacity.^[22]

Because the LNG at Cove Point contains a higher heat content than domestic natural gas, a local gas utility which receives LNG from Cove Point - the Washington Gas Light Co. - complained that its customers were adversely affected by this "hot" gas. As a result, the parties agreed to limit the heat content of the output of the terminal to 1075 Btu per million ft³ (1.134 MJ/m³) by injecting nitrogen into the gas stream. Subsequently, Washington Gas Light has experienced a 16-fold increase in gas leaks on residential service connections in Prince Georges County, which is served directly by pipeline from the plant. These leaks come from mechanical couplings which contain rubber gaskets. Washington Gas Light claims that because the Cove Point gas has less hexane and other heavy hydrocarbons than does domestic natural gas, the Cove Point gas causes the gaskets to dry out and leak. Cove Point disputes these claims and argues that its current expansion will not cause additional leaks in the District of Columbia and Virginia suburbs, as the area served by unblended LNG expands.^[23]

Lawsuits

2010: "After negotiating for a decade, Dominion Transmission is suing nine property owners who refuse to sell oil and gas rights the company says it needs to protect natural gas stored in a large underground reservoir in West Virginia. The defendants are in five states - West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama - and have minority interests in the oil and gas under a combined 136 acres near Buck Run in Lewis County. Since 1956, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has allowed natural gas to be stor ed in the Gantz sandstone formation in Lewis County. Various producers pump gas into the Fink Storage Reservoir, where it's kept until demand picks up - typically in the winter months. Dominion maintains the reservoir but does not own the gas. U.S. District Judge John P. Bailey has scheduled jury selection for next April 12, 2011 in Elkins, West Virginia."^[24]

Revenue and Profits

2010^[25]

Total Reveues: $15.2 billion

Gross Profit: $5.4 billion

2009^[26]

Total Revenues: $15.2 billion

Gross Profit: $5.9 billion

2008^[27]

Total Revenues: $16.3 billion

Gross Profit: $5.4 billion

2007^[28]

Total Revenues: $14.82 billion

Gross Profit: $4.6 billion

Executives and Annual Compensation

CEO and Chairman Thomas F. Farrell II: $4.8 million^[29]
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Dominion Resources, Inc. Mark F. McGettrick: $3.2^[30]
Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Generation, President of Virginia Power and Chief Operating Officer of Virginia Power, Dominion Resources, Inc. David A. Christian: $1.8 million
Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Virginia Power, Dominion Resources, Inc. Paul D. Koonce: $2.6 million

Senior Executives

Benjamin A. Hardesty: Vice President of Northeast Gas Basins - He joined Dominion in 1995, first as president of Dominion Appalachian Development Inc. and, from 2007, as vice president and general manager-Northeast Gas Basins. Prior to joining Dominion, he was president of Stonewall Gas Co. from 1982 to 1995. He is a director and past president of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association and director and past president of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia. Hardesty is a trustee and past chairman of the board of trustees for The Nature Conservancy of West Virginia. He also serves on the boards of directors of the West Virginia Roundtable, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and Huntington Banks of West Virginia.^[31]
Paul Ruppert: Senior Vice President of Dominion Transmission - Ruppert has been at Dominion since 1987. He started as a field worker in Weston, W.Va., and became an engineer in Production in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He became director of Engineering Services in 2000 and vice president of Pipeline Engineering & Plant Operations for Dominion Transmission in 2003. He was named to his current position in June 2009. Ruppert is also a board member of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation.^[32]
Thomas F. Farrell, II: CEO, Chariman and Director - Farrell has been a director of Dominion since 2005. He has been chairman, president and CEO of Dominion since 2007. "Farrell served as president and CEO of Dominion from January 2006 to April 2007, president and chief operating officer from January 2004 to January 2006, and prior to that, executive vice president. He is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Virginia Electric and Power Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dominion, and was chairman, president and CEO of CNG, a former wholly-owned fracking subsidiary of Dominion. Farrell is also a director of Altria Group, Inc."^[33]
Mark F. McGettrick: Executive Vice President and CFO - His areas of responsibility include treasury, accounting, tax, investor relations, risk management, business planning and financial analysis. McGettrick joined Dominion in 1980 and has held a variety of management positions in Distribution Design, Accounting, Financial Planning, Customer Service and Generation. He previously served as president of Dominion Resources Services, Inc. and was CEO of the company’s Dominion Generation operating segment before assuming his current post in June 2009.^[34]
David A. Christian: CEO of Dominion Generation - "Christian joined Virginia Power in 1976 and has held a variety of management positions with Dominion. Before assuming his current position in June 2009, Christian was president and chief nuclear officer of the company’s Dominion Nuclear business unit from October 2007 to May 2009. Christian is chairman of the board of directors of Nuclear Electric Insurance, Ltd., and also serves on the NEIL executive and governance committees. He is a member of the board of directors of the Nuclear Energy Institute and is a board member of the Foundation for Nuclear Studies and the Dominion Foundation.^[35]
Paul D. Koonce: Executive Vice President of Dominion Resources, Inc. and CEO of Dominion Virginia Power - Koonce oversees Dominion’s regulated electric transmission in Virginia and North Carolina. He was CEO of the company’s Dominion Energy operating segment before assuming his current position in June 2009. He also serves on the boards of the Southeastern Electric Exchange, The Yorktown/Jamestown Foundation Board of Trustees and Jobs for Virginia Graduates and the Regional Leadership Council for Smart Beginnings. He has served as past Chair of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America and the Southern Gas Association.^[36]
Gary L. Sypolt: CEO of Dominion Energy - Sypolt's responsibilities include "oversight of Dominion’s regulated gas transmission pipeline and storage operations, regulated liquefied natural gas operations, Ohio and West Virginia regulated methane gas distribution operations and producer services operations. He joined the company in 1975 and has held numerous management positions at Dominion. Sypolt was president–Dominion Transmission before assuming his current post in June 2009. Sypolt serves on the boards of the American Gas Association, Interstate Natural Gas Association, Interstate Natural Gas Association Foundation and Southern Gas Association.^[37]
James K. ‘Jim’ Martin: Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs of Dominion Resources Services, Inc. - Martin's responsibilities include "oversight of state and federal regulatory strategy, filings, and proceedings, as well as Dominion’s NERC Compliance Oversight. He joined Dominion in June 2000 and was Senior Vice President of Business Development & Generation Construction for the company’s Dominion Generation operating segment before assuming his current position in April 2009. Martin came to Dominion from Peabody Coal Co. in St. Louis, where he was Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Martin serves on the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and the Virginia Coal and Economic Development Authority.^[38]
Anne E. Bomar: Senior Vice President and General Manager of Dominion East Ohio - Bomar "oversees all aspects of Dominion East Ohio’s Methane gas distribution company. Bomar joined Consolidated Natural Gas (CNG) in 1985, and held various positions in Corporate Planning, Rates and Gas Procurement prior to joining the company’s legal department. As an attorney with CNG, Bomar spent nine years in Washington, D.C. practicing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission during the unbundling of interstate pipeline services. She served as Director of Rates & Certificates at CNG Transmission from May 1999 until CNG’s merger with Dominion Resources in 2000, when she was named Managing Counsel of Gas Transportation & Storage in the Dominion legal department. She assumed her current position in December 2009.^[39]

Dominion Coal Production

Coal lobbying

Dominion spent $1,840,000 on in house lobbying efforts in 2008 and an additional $470,000 in 2009.^[40] The registered lobbyists were Bruce McKay, Kelly Chapman, Carolyn Perry and Ann Loomis in 2008 with Bruce Byrd replacing Bruce McKay in 2009. Dominion also spent $120,000 on Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon in 2008.^[41] The registered lobbyists were Thomas Ryan, Matthew Berzok, Jeff MacKinnon, Joe Vasapoli,George O'Connor,Bill Phillips, Doug Nappi and Rodney Hoppe. The lobbying duties were taken over in 2009 by Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli & Berzok with another $30,000 from Dominion.^[42] The registered lobbyists were Thomas Ryan, Jeff MacKinnon, Joe Vasapoli, Matthew Berzok and Nick Kolovos.

Dominion is a member of the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies. The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.^[43]

ACAA set up a front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.^[43]

Coal Waste

VA OKs golf course made with coal ash from Dominion waste site

In 2008, worries and complaints about water contamination from Chesapeake's Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville surfaced. Officials at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) allowed developers to build the golf course with coal ash. Upon hearing of the complaints, a former employee said the DEQ attempted to limit the paper trail related to the project so the agency couldn't be blamed. The employee - Allen Brockman, a DEQ groundwater expert from 2001 to 2009 - said he saved e-mails that support his contentions. Brockman said the presence of any groundwater contamination on the golf course, which has been established, is enough for DEQ to declare the property an open dump site and to order all the ash removed, but that hasn't happened.^[44]

The golf course involved the transfer of 1.5 million tons of ash from an overloaded coal waste landfill, the Chesapeake Energy Center Bottom Ash / Sedimentation Pond at Dominion Virginia Power's Chesapeake Energy Center to a marshy, 217-acre site near scores of residential drinking-water wells. Brockman said DEQ allowed the golf course to be built against the backdrop of a chronic arsenic leaching problem at Dominion's coal-ash landfill, treated only with a binding agent to make the course. A "corrective action plan" to remediate the leaching arsenic at the landfill, along the Elizabeth River, had been in development for years. "So the idea of taking this same coal ash, from a landfill site, and placing it in the middle of a community would have been not only unacceptable, but frankly unconscionable," Brockman stated in his affidavit. Even with the use of a binding agent, which Brockman said was ineffective, no groundwater expert would have let the project move forward under any circumstances. Yet he said the early meetings between Dominion and DEQ did not include groundwater experts.^[44]

Virginia residents file $1 billion suit against Dominion over fly ash site

In March 2009, attorneys representing almost 400 residents who live near Battlefield Golf Club in Virginia filed a lawsuit in Chesapeake Circuit Court, seeking over $1 billion in damages. The suit claims that Dominion Virginia Power sent fly ash to the site, ignoring a consultant's determination that the ash would leach harmful elements into the local drinking water supply. The lawsuit names as defendants Dominion, course developer CPM Virginia LLC, and VFL Technology Corp., Dominion's coal-ash management consultant. The suit accuses the companies of committing conspiracy and fraud, battery, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, and the creation of a nuisance. The resident's attorneys are demanding the removal of all fly ash from the site; the cleaning of the aquifer and installation of public water and sewer service; compensation for personal injury and decreased property values; and the creation of a fund for treatment costs and health monitoring.^[45]

Study finds dangerous level of hexavalent chromium at Dominion coal waste sites

The study "EPA’s Blind Spot: Hexavalent Chromium in Coal Ash," released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011, reported elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, a highly potent cancer-causing chemical, at several coal ash sites in Virginia.^[46] In all, the study cited 29 sites in 17 states where hexavalent chromium contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash as well as from studies by EarthJustice, the Environmental Integrity Project, and the Sierra Club.^{[47][48][49][50]} It included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin.^[46]

According to the report, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) was found at elevated levels at the following sites:^[46]

Dominion's Yorktown Power Station unlined coal ash pond at 100 ppb (parts per billion) - 5,000 times the proposed California drinking water goals and above the federal drinking water standard.
Chesapeake, Virginia's Battlefield Golf Course unlined coal waste fill above 100 ppb (parts per billion) - 5,000 times the proposed California drinking water goals and above the federal drinking water standard. The golf course involved the transfer of 1.5 million tons of ash from an overloaded coal waste landfill, the Chesapeake Energy Center Bottom Ash / Sedimentation Pond at Dominion Virginia Power's Chesapeake Energy Center.^[44]

A press release about the report read:

Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.^[51]

According to the report, the electric power industry is the leading source of chromium and chromium compounds released into the environment, representing 24 percent of releases by all industries in 2009.^[46]

Environmental Record

Dominion was 19th on the Political Economy Research Institute's 2002 Toxic 100. The company was responsible for 15.15 million pounds of toxic air emissions in that year.^[52]

In December of 2007, a settlement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Dominion Energy of Brayton Point called for the company's power generating plant to install new closed cycle cooling towers that provided significant protection to aquatic organisms in Mount Hope Bay, which flows into Narragansett Bay. The 2007 settlement resolved an ongoing dispute that began in 2003. The EPA issued a final discharge permit called a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for the Brayton Point Power Station requiring significant reductions in thermal discharges to, and water intake from, Mount Hope Bay.^[53]

2010 report: State Line plant costs public between $500 and 700 million since 2002

According to a 2010 report by the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), "Dominion Resources’ 'Unpaid Health Bills': The Hidden Public Costs of Soot and Smog From the State Line Coal Plant on the Chicago-Northwest Indiana Border and on the Shore of Lake Michigan Total: $540 - $720 Million Since 2002", pollution from Dominion's State Line Plant on the Illinois-Indiana border and along the Lake Michigan shores has caused up to $720 million in health and related damages in the last 8 years. The report uses data from the National Research Council finding that particulate matter (soot) from the State Line coal plant creates about $77 million in health and related damages annually which are imposed on the public. Overall, this coal plant has created an estimated $540 million to $720 million in public health damages and costs since 2002.^[54]

The State Line coal plant is located on the Illinois/Indiana border, just 13 miles from downtown Chicago and along the Lake Michigan shoreline. About 78,000 people live within three miles of the plant. The plant continues to operate with much equipment built between 1955 and 1962, as Dominion Resources, the plant owner, has not installed modern pollution controls such as scrubbers. ELPC’s report examines recent scientific research on the health effects of soot and smog pollution from coal plants. Numerous authoritative scientific panels have found that particulate matter pollution from coal plants harms public health, causing various health detriments including premature death, heart attacks, and cardiovascular and respiratory disease, the personal and economic hardships of which are borne by the public.^[54]

The report adds new information to the debate on how coal plants in Illinois and Indiana should be operated and regulated. U.S. EPA initiated an enforcement action against the State Line coal plant in 2009, citing 4,770 minutes of opacity (“soot and smoke”) violations between 2004 and 2008. In September 2010, ELPC and other health and environmental groups filed a notice of intent to sue Dominion Resources for repeatedly violating the amount of soot and smoke the plant is allowed to emit under the Clean Air Act.^[54]

Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) Clean Air Act Settlement

On April 21, 2003 the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. EPA announced that Virginia Electric Power Company (VEPCO), now known as Dominion, agreed to a $1.2 billion settlement for charges that the company had violated New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act. At the time it was the largest settlement with any utility company for alleged Clean Air Act violations. By 2013 the company is expected to install equipment to control pollution that causes smog, acid rain and soot by eliminating 237,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) from their plants' discharge in Virginia and West Virginia.

“Today’s settlement reflects the combined efforts of all parties to reach one common goal – cleaner air,” said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “These massive reductions in pollution will benefit not only the citizens of Virginia and West Virginia, but also the states in the Northeast to which windblown emissions of these pollutants are transported.”

VEPCO also agreed to pay a $5.3 million a civil penalty and spend at least $13.9 million more for environmental projects in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, all of which participated in the case. Dominion will be installing new pollution control equipment and upgrading existing controls on several units in its system.^[55]

Protests against Dominion

June 26, 2007: March & Street Theater at Dominion Headquarters

On June 26, 2007, more than 35 people with the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Mountain Justice Summer marched in Richmond, VA, calling for Dominion to abandon its plans for a Wise County Plant in southwest Virginia. The march began at Massey Energy’s headquarters, where participants acted out a “baby shower” for newly-mined coal. With “baby coal” placed in a coffin, the march moved to Dominion Resources’ headquarters and a mock funeral was held for the coal, drawing a line between strip mining and coal-fired power plants. ^[56]

April 15, 2008: Blue Ridge Earth First! Blockades Dominion Headquarters

On April 15, 2008, protesters gathered in Richmond, VA as three people with Blue Ridge Earth First! blockaded the road in front of Dominion’s headquarters. The three blockading the road received summons for blocking traffic, but no arrests were made. ^[57]

June 30, 2008: Activists Blockade Dominion Headquarters

On June 30, 2008, 20 activists with Blue Ridge Earth First! and Mountain Justice Summer blockaded the entrance to Dominion Resources' corporate headquarters to protest the company's plan for the Wise County Plant in southwest Virginia. Four protesters formed a human chain with their hands encased in containers of hardened cement and a fifth dangled by a climber's harness from the Lee Bridge footbridge. After several hours police made their way through the miles of backed up traffic to cut the activists out of the lockboxes and barrels. The climber came down on his own. Police also detained eight others standing on the sidewalks supporting the lockdown team. Thirteen in total were arrested.^[58].

September 15, 2008: Blockade at Power Plant Site & Dominion CEO Presentation Replaced

On September 15, 2008, approximately 50 protested at the construction site of the Wise County Plant. A blockade of the construction site was created when participants locked down to steel barrel drums and to the gates of the site. Two of the barrel drums had operational solar panels affixed to the top that illuminated a banner reading "Renewable Jobs to Renew Appalachia." Eleven people were arrested. ^[59] Later that day in San Francisco, activists with the Rainforest Action Network infiltrated Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell’s presentation at Bank of America’s Annual Investment Conference. Farrell’s PowerPoint presentation was replaced with a slideshow of the Wise County Plant protest. ^[60]

February 7, 2009: Billionaires for Coal visit Dominion headquarters: Richmond, VA

About two dozen people identifying themselves "Billionaires for Coal" gathered outside the headquarters of Dominion to lampoon the coal industry. The activists wore formal dress and sipped from wine glasses, while shouting pro-coal, anti-environment slogans including "Up with sea levels, up with profits." A bluegrass band also performed, calling themselves "The We Love Money String Band". Although the group's signs and chants stayed on message with the billionaire façade, the activists distributed leaflets revealing that the demonstration was organized by Blue Ridge Earth First.^[61]

700K in PAC

Official PAC Name:

DOMINION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE

Location: RICHMOND, VA 23261

Industry: Electric Utilities; Gas & Electric Utilities

Treasurer: APPLEWHITE, HUNTER

FEC Committee ID: C00108209

(Look up actual documents filed at the FEC)