The State Corporation Commission suspended its approval of the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center — a planned Dominion Energy Virginia natural gas plant that has drawn significant opposition from Central Virginia residents and environmental groups.

Regulators said in a short filing Tuesday that the suspension will allow them more time to consider an appeal filed Monday by Appalachian Voices, the NAACP and Mothers Out Front. Those groups oppose the plant and are represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center. 

Their appeal petition argued that the SCC failed to consider emissions impacts on fenceline communities as required under the state’s environmental justice law, instead leaving that to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. 

The Virginia Environmental Justice Act, codified in 2020, defines a fenceline community as “an area that contains all or part of a low-income community or community of color and that presents an increased health risk to its residents due to its proximity to a major source of pollution.” 

The commission’s Nov. 25 final order said CERC would have smaller local health impacts than the coal plant that operated on the same property from 1952 until 2023. 

The appeal challenged that conclusion: “With all due respect, that methodology countermands the fundamental goals of the VEJA; it would encourage constructing new fossil fuel infrastructure at locations that have historically housed such infrastructure, ensuring those communities continue to experience harms.” 

Environmental advocates also argued that Dominion must meet energy efficiency targets under state law in order to build new fossil fuel power plants — targets that the utility has not met. That requirement can be superseded if there is a demonstrated need for more electricity production to avoid reliability issues; that need does exist, regulators said in their November order. 

It’s another issue raised by the appeal: how the threat to reliability was determined. Appellants argued Dominion provided “minimal evidence” of its claim that CERC is necessary to prevent rolling blackouts, brownouts or other consequences. 

The SCC cited modeling and statements from Dominion, PJM Interconnection (which operates the regional electric grid capacity market) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation in deciding that additional generation is needed by 2029. 

The state commission’s acceptance of the appeal isn’t necessarily a sign that regulators agree with its arguments, nor that the SCC will change its November decision in approving the plant. SELC attorney Grayson Holmes said he appreciated the agency’s willingness to take a closer look. 

“We hope the Commission will recognize that permitting Dominion to claim this narrow exception on flimsy evidence sets a bad precedent — effectively suggesting that any future gas proposals could easily clear this hurdle, even if they are not the cleanest or most economic option,” Holmes said in a news release. 

Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said in a statement that CERC is “an important part of Virginia’s all of the above strategy to ensure our region has the reliable power we need.” 

“We stand behind the SCC’s approval of the project,” Slayton wrote Thursday. “It was approved after a year of exhaustive review, an extensive public hearing and participation by thousands of Virginians.”