RICHMOND -- Appalachian Power Co.'s coal-fired power plant in Giles County and MeadWestvaco's paper mill in Covington will be part of a state evaluation of pollution emissions from older facilities that were exempted from the federal Clean Air Act, Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday.

The Department of Environmental Quality will determine whether emissions from those two facilities and a Dominion Virginia Power plant in Chesterfield County comply with national air quality standards. The three companies have agreed to cooperate with the pilot project, which Kaine initiated as part of an environmental and energy agenda he has dubbed "Renew Virginia."

Virginia officials said they believe that no other state has conducted such direct reviews of power-generating and industrial facilities that were grandfathered under the 1970 Clean Air Act.

"There isn't any reason why we shouldn't do a systematic analysis of grandfathered sources," Kaine said in announcing the initiative at Dominion's Chesterfield County power plant.

Kaine said the state is focusing on large, older facilities that either produce significant emissions because of their size or are located near population centers. The three facilities identified Tuesday are the first of 15 older power plants and industrial facilities that could be evaluated over the next five years under Kaine's plan. The surveys could take as long as 18 months, depending on the amount of data that needs to be collected, officials said.

The state will analyze emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter to determine whether the facilities comply with National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The companies will provide meteorological data and work with DEQ to collect site-specific emissions data and conduct computer modeling of pollutant levels.

The state would have the authority to require the companies to reduce emissions if they don't meet air quality standards, Kaine said.

Virginia has about 300 pollution sources that were grandfathered under the 1970 federal law, Kaine said, though a single industrial facility can have more than one exempted source.

The state's effort to survey emissions from larger facilities does not imply that those companies are violating air quality standards, Kaine said.

Although the state has not directly monitored emissions from industries or power plants built before the Clean Air Act took effect, it has collected data submitted by the facilities as part of a federal permitting process.

According to those figures, the Chesterfield Power Station was the state's top source of emissions released by air. The Giles County power plant ranked fifth; the paper mill in Covington was seventh.

Representatives from Appalachian and MeadWestvaco said their companies have taken significant steps to minimize the effects their operations have on air quality and are eager to participate in the survey.

"We have always operated our facilities in compliance with all regulatory obligations," said Dana Waldo, president and chief operating officer of Appalachian.

MeadWestvaco has made major investments in equipment and technology upgrades at its Covington plant over the past two decades, including about $400 million for "state-of-the-art environmental controls," said Mark Watkins, the company's senior vice president for technology.

"We've basically turned a 100-year-old paper mill into one of the most modern facilities of its kind," Watkins said.

Frank Rambo, a senior attorney with the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center, said Kaine's initiative "has set Virginia on a path apart from other states."

"If done properly, the process will lay the foundation for mandating the specific emissions reductions these sources must make to help clean the air we breathe," Rambo said.

Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed to this report.