Lawrenceville Brick has been making quality brick products in
Brunswick County for more than 60 years and now it is moving into a new
era. The company was incorporated in Brunswick County in 1946 as Brick
and Tile Corporation of Lawrenceville. It was founded by three local
businessmen who invited a small number of other investors in the area to
join them in the new venture. The company announced in July that
Redland Brick Company, a division of Ohio based Belden Brick Company,
has acquired control of the manufacturing and sales.
Redland Brick Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Belden Holding
and Acquisition Company, Inc. and is headquartered in Williamsport
Maryland. Redland operates four brick manufacturing plants including
Cushwa Brick and Rocky Ridge Brick in Maryland, Harmar Brick in
Pennsylvania and KF Brick in Connecticut. Redland produces a wide range
of products, featuring both molded and extruded styles. Parent company
Belden Brick was organized in Canton, Ohio in 1885 by Henry S. Belden
and four associates. The Belden Brick Company is the sixth largest
brick manufacturer in the United States.
Project Would be Single Largest Economic Development Project in County’s History
600 Jobs Would be Created During Construction; 30 Permanent
Positions; Economic Impact in County of $73 million a Year During
Construction; $30 Million a Year After
RICHMOND –
Governor Bob McDonnell joined Dominion chairman, president and chief
executive officer Thomas F. Farrell II, local Brunswick County
officials and legislators from the region as the company announced
today that its Dominion Virginia Power subsidiary will propose building
a $1.1 billion combined-cycle, natural gas-fired power station in
Brunswick County that will generate electricity for customers by the
summer of 2016.
Speaking about the proposal, the Governor noted, “The proposed
Brunswick County Power Station has the potential to be the largest
single economic development project in the history of Brunswick County.
The Station will create good paying jobs for local residents, both
during construction and after. And it will generate cleaner energy to
help meet the increasing demands of our growing Commonwealth in the
years ahead. This is a positive announcement for the economy of Southern
Virginia, and for the energy needs of the entire state.”
“The Brunswick County site offers us an ideal location to generate
electricity to serve Southside Virginia and Hampton Roads reliably and
will help us close the gap of 4,000 megawatts in peak demand that our
customers are expected to need within the next decade,” Tom Farrell
said.
“We expect this highly efficient new power station will provide
savings for our customers much the same as we are seeing from the
smaller Bear Garden Power Station that went online last summer in
Buckingham County. This also is the best, most cost-effective and
reliable way to meet the latest federal clean-air standards.”
Artist’s rendering of proposed energy plant.
From Dominion Virginia Power
Dominion expects to ask the Virginia State Corporation Commission
later this year for permission to build the Brunswick County Power
Station. With a generating capacity of more than 1,300 megawatts, the
station would produce enough electricity to power more than 325,000
homes. Output from the Brunswick County facility would replace the
electricity generated by coal units at two eastern Virginia stations
that are planned to be closed for economic reasons and to help meet
customers’ growing demand for electricity.
Dominion announced last September that it would likely close older
coal-fired units at Chesapeake Energy Center in Chesapeake and at
Yorktown Power Station. It is more cost-effective to close the units
than install emissions control equipment necessary to meet new federal
environmental regulations. The change from coal to natural gas to meet
customer needs will result in a net environmental benefit for the
Commonwealth.
PJM Interconnection LLC, the regional transmission organization that
coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13
states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia, reported in
its annual forecast that customers will demand 4,000 megawatts more of
electricity from Dominion during peak demand in 2022 than it does
today.
If approved by state regulators, Brunswick County Power Station would
be built on a 205-acre site on U.S. Route 58 east of Lawrenceville. It
would be the largest single economic development project ever in the
county. At least 600 workers would be on site at the peak of
construction. The station will provide about 30 full-time jobs and pay
annual property taxes of between $3.5 and $4 million when operational.
Dominion already has received the necessary conditional use permits
from the Brunswick County Board of Supervisors to build the station and
has applied to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for the
air permit.
Dominion is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of
energy, with a portfolio of approximately 28,000 megawatts of
generation, 11,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and
storage pipeline and 6,300 miles of electric transmission lines.
Dominion operates the nation’s largest natural gas storage system with
947 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy
customers in 15 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the
company’s website at http://www.dom.com/.