GOVERNOR SIGNS METH BILL

RICHMOND - Gov. Mark Warner signed a bill Thursday that extends capped
electricity rates and also could help the coalfields region land a $1
billion coal-fired power plant.

He also signed into law a measure to keep methadone clinics away from
schools and day-care centers.

The deregulation bill has an amendment Sen. William Wampler,
R-Bristol, crafted to lure a major utility company or an independent
power producer to build a 500-megawatt plant in Lee, Wise, Dickenson
or Buchanan counties.

The measure allows a utility to seek State Corporation Commission
approval to build a plant near Virginia's coal mines. The plant could
be operational in 2010 if it makes it through tough water and
air-quality permitting processes.

"It's a $1 billion investment that has a life cycle of 50 years, and
it won't go to Mexico," Wampler said Thursday. "It will be a huge
economic boost to the coal-producing region."

Local economists said earlier this year that a coal-fired plant could
support 260 indirect jobs in other sectors and could boost the coal
industry because the facility must burn only Virginia coal. Such a
plant could use 2 million tons of coal a year.

The electricity generated at the plant would be sold only in the
commonwealth.

A coal-fired facility could take four years to build and would provide
1,000 jobs during its construction. The plant would need 85 full-time
workers to operate it, and it could generate $6.5 million annually in
tax revenue.

Wampler said a number of energy producers have "expressed the greatest
of interest" in six sites that could house a power plant.

The senator's methadone bill prohibits new drug-treatment clinics,
other that those operated by the government, from locating within a
half-mile of schools or day-care centers.

The bill also requires notification of local governments of
applications for new methadone clinics.

Methadone is a synthetic drug used to treat those addicted to
substances such as heroin.

"This bill will not require the relocation of any existing clinic,"
the governor said. "This measure, as presented to me, represents a
common-sense solution to a difficult issue."

The bill stems from controversies last year involving proposed
methadone clinics in the city of Roanoke and in Roanoke and Washington
counties.

The bill does not address zoning issues related to some methadone
clinic controversies in Southwest Virginia.

Washington County recently denied Appalachian Treatment Services'
request for an occupancy certificate to operate a clinic near the
Lowry Hills Subdivision just outside Bristol.