Press Releases

Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) issued the following statement on Dominion Energy’s announcement that it is studying two sites in Southwest Virginia for potential use as a pumped storage hydropower facility:

“I firmly believe that pumped storage hydropower holds great promise for the coalfields of Southwest Virginia. The coalfields already have much of the infrastructure for this technology. In return, they would benefit from the jobs these facilities would bring and the energy they would provide. Further, all the city and county governments in the region would share in revenues generated by these projects. I have worked in Congress to promote technology for closed-loop pumped storage hydropower facilities.

“By conducting in-depth studies of Wise and Tazewell County sites, Dominion brings the opportunities offered by pumped storage hydropower closer to reality. I believe studying these sites is just the start and that other projects involving this technology in our area will be considered in the future. I will continue to promote pumped storage hydropower as part of the solution for the coalfields’ economy.”

Background

According to Dominion, building a pumped storage hydropower facility in the coalfields would create hundreds of construction jobs and up to 50 permanent jobs.

In June, Congressman Griffith introduced H.R. 2880, a bill to make federal permitting easier for closed-loop pumped storage hydropower facilities.

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