CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has temporarily suspended its approval of Dominion Energy's $1.47 billion natural gas plant -- a development that has generated significant controversy -- after community groups petitioned against it. For years now, Dominion Energy has been working towards transforming the site of the retired Chesterfield Power Station into what it calls the "Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center" (CERC). The natural gas plant would meet a “critical need” for power, according to Dominion. CERC has always been quite controversial. Residents, advocacy groups and even lawmakers have pushed back hard, expressing concerns about the environmental impacts associated with a massive plant powered by fossil fuels, such as air pollution. On Tuesday, Nov. 25, the SCC -- which regulates several businesses and economic interests in Virginia -- approved CERC's construction and operation, as well as related rate hikes for customers. PREVIOUS: ‘The SCC has failed,' State approves $1.47 billion Chesterfield gas plant, related rate hikes for Dominion Energy customers This decision immediately provoked substantial backlash from the community groups who had long advocated against CERC. “The hundreds of Chesterfield County residents and the thousands more across the state who rallied in opposition to this gas plant and in defense of the Virginia Clean Economy Act [VCEA] will fight on,” said Friends of Chesterfield, a neighborhood group that has fiercely advocated against CERC for years, in a statement at the time. At the time of CERC's initial approval, the SCC explained that the VCEA has a clause that would allow the state to greenlight developments like CERC when denying said developments could threaten the reliability or security of electric service. “As discussed herein, the evidence in this case clearly establishes that there is an imminent reliability threat for Dominion and its customers and that the CERC Project addresses that threat in a manner that is in accordance with the public interest and the VCEA,” the SCC said previously. RELATED: Virginia DEQ approves air permit for controversial Chesterfield gas plant Those opposed to CERC disagree with this perspective and, by mid-December, multiple community groups indeed brought their fight to the SCC. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a 38-page petition that bid the state to reconsider its decision. The community groups named in the petition include Appalachian Voices, the Chesterfield NAACP and Mothers Out Front. "Authorizing the construction and operation of the [CERC] based on the record in this case flouts both the spirit and the text of the [VCEA] and the Virginia Environmental Justice Act (VEJA) -- the landmark environmental laws the General Assembly passed just a few years ago," the petition reads. "Those laws envisoned a future where the Commonwealth's energy needs would be met entirely with clean sources, resulting in better health and environmental outcomes for all Virginians, but particularly those environmental justice and fenceline communities that have long borne the brunt of pollution from fossil-fuel resources." In a Dec. 18 press release, the SELC outlined the main arguments made in its petition to the SCC, which include: The accusation that the SCC is ignoring the health impacts of the projected air pollution from CERC, as required under the VEJA The claim that Dominion Energy has not met its energy saving goals outlined in Virginia law, and therefore should not be able to recover CERC's costs through a rider The accusation that the SCC, when making its decision, lacked sufficient evidence supporting the idea that CERC's costs are reasonable The accusation that the SCC simply accepted Dominion Energy's "minimal evidence" of an energy reliability threat "at face value," despite "substantial proof that new gas is not required to meet Virginians' energy needs" "If they were not going to pollute the air, then they wouldn’t need an air pollution permit, right? So they are polluting the air," Glen Besa, chair of Friends of Chesterfield, told 8News. "The question is how much, and the state believes that what Dominion's proposed is sufficient -- and we disagree.” In response to this petition, the SCC announced it has temporarily suspended CERC's approval to allow it time to review the community groups' request. A spokesperson for the SCC told 8News that this is a standard procedural step that does not reflect on what the SCC may or may not decide. PREVIOUS: Dominion Energy admits ‘error’ in independent review for proposed Chesterfield gas plant “We, Appalachian Voices, the NAACP and Mothers Out Front, appreciate the Commission’s willingness to take another look at its approval of this unnecessary, dirty and expensive gas plant,” said SELC Senior Attorney Grayson Holmes in the release. “We hope that the Commission will see and acknowledge the unfairness of continuing to force particular communities to bear the brunt of pollution from fossil fuel infrastructure. Since this is the first case assessing what constitutes a ‘threat to reliability,’ sufficient to overcome the Clean Economy Act’s presumption against building new gas plants, we also hope the Commission will recognize that permitting Dominion to claim this narrow exception on flimsy evidence sets a bad precedent — effectively suggesting that any future gas proposals could easily clear this hurdle, even if they are not the cleanest or most economic option.” At this time, it's not clear when the SCC's final decision will be made. However, Dominion Energy confirmed to 8News that the process of developing CERC is on hold as the SCC deliberates. "But we do stand behind the SCC decision," said Jeremy Slayton, a spokesperson for Dominion. "And much like the DEQ permitting process, there was robust community engagement in the SCC process from both supporters and opponents [of] the project." ...read more read less