Appalachian Power (APCo) recently announced that it would
decrease the outflows of water from its Smith Mountain Hydroelectric Project
due to “minimal rainfall” and a dry forecast. APCo[1]
sought and received permission from the Virginia Department of Environmental
Quality to decrease its water releases.
The Smith Mountain Hydroelectric Project has been a reliable
source of electricity to customers since the 1960s. Utilizing two dams, the
project can generate over 600 megawatts for up to 11 hours. [2]
State officials say they are “hopeful” that the decreased
water flows will still meets the needs of customers, both upstream and
downstream, while biological and environmental resources are safeguarded.
Unfortunately, the recent lack of rainfall may very well be
a sign of extreme weather events in the years and decades to come due to global
climate change.[3]
While Virginia may continue to experience similar baseline levels of rainfall
in the future, the “spread” could be unevenly distributed, leaving certain
months of the year more prone to dry conditions akin to what is being
experienced now in segments of Virginia.
A lingering question is whether or not Virginia’s utilities
are prepared for the likelihood of extreme weather patterns. If minimal
rainfall were to continue well into the future, what back-up electricity
generation plans would APCo have for customers reliant upon its hydroelectric
project?
Because Virginia and the country as a whole have failed to
act upon the warnings of climate scientists, it is no longer a question of if extreme
weather patterns will occur, but when and how severely. Virginians may
experience a net gain from the changes in climate and therefore fail to change
business as usual.
As they say, however, you reap what you sew. If Virginia
doesn’t make significant changes to stem the emission of greenhouse gases,
changes like conversions to cleaner and more renewable forms of energy, that
fine line between net gain and net loss will almost certainly be crossed for
the worst.
Companies like APCo not only have a moral duty to decrease
the emission of harmful greenhouse gases, it also has a duty to its customers.
For the sake of its customers and our environment, let’s hope that they finally
decide to move their energy portfolio in the right direction.
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