WASHINGTON — Virginia lawmakers have put the brakes on Dominion Virginia Power shutting down controversial coal ash ponds around the state until at least May 2018.
Before wrapping up this year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that had been amended by the governor dealing with coal ash, a waste material from burning coal to generate power.
The bill puts a year moratorium on the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEM) from issuing permits for the purpose of closing any of the 11 coal ash ponds in the state.
It also requires the power company to study and analyze alternative methods for disposing of the waste, such as clean closure methods — recycling or moving the coal ash to a landfill designed to handle it. The analysis is to be done on the closure methods for all 11 coal ash ponds across the state and must be completed by Dec. 1, 2017.
For Prince William County, the bill passing comes in the 11th hour, since Dominion was very close to closing a coal ash pond at its Possum Point power station in Dumfries, Virginia. County supervisor Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, said Dominion wanted a cap in place for the four-million tons of coal ash at that location. He said to leave it in the ground and “cover it up for the next 100 years and hope that it doesn’t contaminate our groundwater.”
Prince William County officials and residents have been trying to get the power company to remove the coal ash, which contains heavy metals from Possum Point. Heavy metals are known to be toxic, even at low levels.
“Some really nasty stuff in this coal ash,” Principi said. “These are carcinogens in very small quantities — should a human be exposed to it — will cause all different types of cancer. With the residents on Possum Point Road who own drinking water wells — we’re talking huge exposure if we don’t do the right thing.”
Dominion’s president and CEO sent a letter to the governor agreeing that the alternative analysis of closure methods would be “prudent.”
Principi said he gives a lot of credit to the governor for slowing down the process and adding about a year to the timetable.
He said he hopes that extra time will “allow all parties to come together to get all the information that we need to make the right choices for the health and human safety of our residents and for our environment. And making sure that we all have the facts to figure out what’s best for everybody involved.
“I believe with the information that Dominion will have to do the right thing.”
