CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The highly controversial $1.47 billion natural gas plant Dominion Energy plans to build in Chesterfield County has cleared yet another developmental hurdle. In a letter dated Friday, Dec. 19, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) granted Dominion Energy an air permit for its “Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center” (CERC). The company plans to build this natural gas plant at 500 Coxendale Rd., where the Chesterfield Power Station -- a retired coal plant -- is located. This comes roughly a month after the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved the development, as well as associated rate hikes for customers. Since its initial proposal years ago, CERC has been quite controversial, with residents, advocacy groups and even lawmakers pushing back hard. PREVIOUS: ‘The SCC has failed,' State approves $1.47 billion Chesterfield gas plant, related rate hikes for Dominion Energy customer Dominion Energy has maintained that CERC is the solution to a “critical need” for power. However, those against the plant have expressed concerns about the environmental impacts associated with a massive plant powered by fossil fuels, such as air pollution. The Virginia DEQ has spent several months collecting public comments on CERC as it deliberated whether or not to issue this air permit. The Virginia DEQ outlined several specifications about how CERC may be operated, including limits on nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions. Dominion Energy is required to heed these regulations under penalty of law, per the Virginia DEQ. Matt Allenbaugh, the Virginia campaign coordinator for regional advocacy group Appalachian Voices, emphasized the potential health impacts of CERC in a Dec. 22 press release about the Virginia DEQ's decision. PREVIOUS: Environmental groups call on Virginia DEQ to deny air permit for Chesterfield power plant "This plant will be expensive and dirty, and it’s unacceptable that Chesterfield residents will be exposed to decades of additional air pollution after finally getting relief from the coal plant,” he said in the release. "There is no safe level of PM2.5 exposure. As a parent, it's sad to think that children are going to be at some of the highest risk of negative health impacts from the air pollution from this gas plant." Glen Besa, chair of Friends of Chesterfield -- a neighborhood organization that has fiercely advocated against CERC for years -- shared a similar sentiment. "We are profoundly disappointed that DEQ is siding with corporate polluters and ignoring the health impacts of air pollution from this dirty methane-fired power plant on our community,” she said in the release. Dominion Energy previously said that CERC could be commercially operational by June 1, 2029. ...read more read less