Dominion Resources to Spend $11 Billion on Virginia Projects in Next Six Years

By John Ramsey, Richmond Times-Dispatch

The top executive at Dominion Resources Inc. this morning will outline plans for the company to invest more than $11 billion in Virginia between now and 2020.

The planned spending, which company representatives say will create thousands of jobs and expand opportunities for the state to attract new business, includes plans to build two natural gas power plants along with renovations to and expansions of the power grid. The plan also includes burying electrical lines in areas that typically see the longest outages after storms.

The plans in Virginia are part of an overarching $19 billion strategy companywide over the next six years, including the construction of the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline to bring natural gas from the West Virginia shale fields to Virginia and North Carolina. The company also will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into solar energy projects.

Thomas F. Farrell II, the chairman, president and CEO of the Richmond-based company, will detail the plans at the energy giant’s annual shareholders meeting this morning.

“His primary focus is going to be where we are headed,” Chet Wade, a Dominion spokesman, said Tuesday about what Farrell will discuss during the meeting.

“We have a very clear plan to invest in the economic future and energy future of Virginia.”

Some of the projects are underway, such as the natural-gas fired power plant under construction in Brunswick County that is about 60 percent completed. Other projects are to come.

Most of the projects have been announced but not all of them have.

Wade said the company’s spending likely will be the largest private economic driver in the state during the next six years.

The moves will help meet federal requirements to reduce pollution, improve the reliability of services and are likely to keep residential energy bills low. The average Dominion bill is about $109, about $25 lower than the national average, he said.

But not all of the company’s plans are popular with everyone.

Dozens of protesters who oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are planning to demonstrate with placards and a 40-foot-long inflatable pipeline before the 9 a.m. shareholders meeting at the Innsbrook Technical Center in Henrico County.

Shareholders also will consider seven proposals from some shareholders that would require Dominion to outline the financial risks posed by climate change, to tie executive compensation to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and to scrap the idea of building a third nuclear reactor at its North Anna plant in Louisa County. Dominion’s board has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposals.

Similar environmental proposals during last year’s meeting in Cleveland failed but managed to get support from about a fifth of shareholders.

Dominion on Monday reported first-quarter profits of $536 million, slightly surpassing the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The company projects its full-year earnings per share to fall in the $3.50 to $3.85 range.