Residents and health advocates urge pause, cite water, noise and health risks

During a lengthy public‑comment period, a wide range of residents, faith leaders, health professionals, environmental advocates and local emergency‑services officials urged the planning commission either to deny the CUP or to pause action until additional studies and binding commitments are provided.

Several speakers raised water‑supply concerns. Reverend Muriel Miller Branch told commissioners Dominion had proposed "1.5 times more water usage than all of Cumberland's households combined," and urged officials to consider "what is the human cost of profit?" Other speakers asked where make‑up water would come from and whether groundwater wells or surface sources would be used; the applicant acknowledged water sourcing was a gating item but offered no single county‑verified water withdrawal number at the hearing.

Public health and noise concerns were raised repeatedly. Amber Parker highlighted national guidance and World Health Organization recommendations on chronic noise exposure and warned that the CUP's 65 dB limit at the nearest residence would be substantially higher than current ambient levels in parts of the county. Dr. Lakshmi Fuerd urged commissioners to "Please pause this this process," citing absent pollutant tonnage figures in the submitted CUP materials.

Advocates with the Southern Environmental Law Center and local residents argued that a plant of this industrial scale is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan’s rural and agricultural land‑use designations and that a formal plan amendment and broader public review would be more appropriate than proceeding under the CUP process.