Virginia DEQ grants air permit for Dominion’s Chesterfield gas plant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2025
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Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018, dan@appvoices.org
Virginia DEQ grants air permit for Dominion’s Chesterfield gas plant
RICHMOND, Va. — Today, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality posted the approved air permit, dated Dec. 19, for Dominion’s Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, a 944-megawatt methane gas plant planned for Southern Chesterfield County, Virginia. DEQ approved the permit despite thousands of public comments submitted in opposition to the polluting project. This plant is the first of up to eight that Dominion said it intends to build in the commonwealth, even though existing Virginia law requires the monopoly utility to produce 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045.
CERC would be sited at the company’s existing power station campus and emit harmful pollution, including particulate matter 2.5, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — toxins that lead to health problems such as increased respiratory and heart disease. The community surrounding the construction location has endured over 70 years of pollution from the coal-fired power plants at the existing station, but DEQ has now determined it is appropriate to continue to pollute those same communities, impacting their air, water, land and quality of life.
Chesterfield community members have been in fierce opposition to the project since June 2023, hosting community meetings, rallies and submitting thousands of comments to both the State Corporation Commission and DEQ. The SCC approved a certificate of public convenience and necessity on Nov. 25, 2025, and parties litigating that case have since asked for an administrative review of the decision. The zoning determination for the plant’s location in Chesterfield is also being legally challenged.
“This plant will be expensive and dirty, and it’s unacceptable that Chesterfield residents will be exposed to decades of additional air pollution after finally getting relief from the coal plant,” said Matt Allenbaugh, Virginia Campaign Coordinator at Appalachian Voices. “There is no safe level of PM2.5 exposure. As a parent, it’s sad to think that children are going to be at some of the highest risk of negative health impacts from the air pollution from this gas plant.”
“We are profoundly disappointed that DEQ is siding with corporate polluters and ignoring the health impacts of air pollution from this dirty methane-fired power plant on our community,” said Glen Besa, Friends of Chesterfield Chair.
“The Chesterfield Gas Plant will lock families into decades of higher bills and expose nearby communities to harmful pollution, all to power the unchecked growth of Big Tech’s data centers,” said Dyanna Jaye, Deputy Director of Clean Virginia. “By granting an air pollution permit, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has chosen to side with a powerful monopoly utility over the health, wallets and voices of Virginians. Virginians deserve real scrutiny and real accountability for this project, but they did not get it today.”
