Legal advocates say plant conflicts with county comprehensive plan; staff and commissioners weigh competing readings

The Southern Environmental Law Center urged the planning commission to determine the proposal is not in substantial accord with Cumberland County’s comprehensive plan and to require a formal plan amendment before any major industrial use is approved.

Morgan Butler, speaking for SELC, told the commission the future land‑use map designates the proposed site for agricultural and rural residential uses and that the comprehensive plan expressly limits heavy industrial uses in those areas. "A proposal to build the second largest gas plant in the entire country...is simply not a residential agricultural or agricultural‑supported use," Butler said.

Staff and several commissioners responded that the comprehensive plan includes multiple, sometimes competing, goals — including economic development — and that the commission’s legal duty under Virginia Code §15.2‑2232 is to evaluate "general location, character and extent" to determine substantial accord. Commissioner Richard Donahue acknowledged the competing goals and proposed three conditions he said were necessary for a recommendation: explicit compliance language with all laws, binding decommissioning guarantees so the county is not left with remediation liability, and clearer timelines and mitigation commitments for nearby neighbors.

The commission voted to find the project in substantial accord with the comprehensive plan and to recommend approval of the CUP; the vote and Donahue’s requested conditions were recorded in the meeting minutes as part of the recommendation package to the Board of Supervisors.