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Residents urge Buckingham supervisors to press Cumberland over proposed Dominion gas plant and ValleyLink impacts
Summary
Public commenters told the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors they were not consulted about Dominion Energy’s proposed 3,000‑megawatt Cumberland Energy Center and urged the board to seek transparency and slow Cumberland’s permitting process, citing water use, pollution and infrastructure concerns.
Amy Crawford, a Buckingham resident who identified herself as representing District 4, told the board the Dominion Energy proposal for a “Cumberland Energy Center” is ‘‘a cute and innocuous name for the 2nd largest gas power plant in The United States at 3,000 megawatts.’’ She said the plant would sit about a half‑mile from the Buckingham County border and warned of large water use — ‘‘an average of 800,000 gallons of water a day, but up to 2,000,000’’ — and of emissions including ‘‘soot, benzene, a known carcinogen, nitrogen ox oxide, methane leakage, and a 188 other hazardous substances’’ she said would be emitted ‘‘24 7.’’
Crawford asked the board whether Buckingham officials had been consulted and asked supervisors to ‘‘demand transparency and answers,’’ to slow Cumberland County’s conditional use permit process and to conduct ‘‘an independent and thorough analysis of the public health, wildlife, habitat destruction, pollution, water, and economic impacts’’ of a project of that scale. She asked the board to ‘‘read a letter to the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors urging them to slow down this fast tracked conditional use permitting process.’’
Joseph Anthony and other public speakers echoed broader concerns about regional coordination. Steve Herring, who identified his address in New Canton, told the board the proposed 3‑gigawatt plant ‘‘would bring unprecedented levels of air, water, noise and light pollution to Northeastern Buckingham County’’ and warned the project could require new gas pipelines and larger transmission lines through Buckingham. Herring said the plant appeared intended to meet demand in Northern Virginia data centers rather than local needs and asked the board to write to Cumberland supervisors to ‘‘slow down their cup process.’’
Several speakers linked the plant to other regional infrastructure proposals, including ValleyLink routes. Cynthia Oliver and others said ValleyLink design changes run through watershed areas and urged the board to demand an open house in Buckingham to discuss erosion, water quality and habitat impacts. Lavonia Jones raised separate concerns about county garbage stickers and whether low‑income residents have options to pay for disposal.
The board did not take formal action on the Cumberland proposal during the meeting; commenters asked for letters, investigations or coordination with Cumberland County. The meeting’s public comments section lasted multiple speakers and closed before the board moved into scheduled staff updates and business.
