As summer winds down, the battle over Virginia’s long-term solution for coal ash disposal is heating back up. This summer saw several significant events and improvements in the fight against reckless coal ash disposal in Virginia.
First, the Virginia Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center teamed up in court to sue Dominion for violations of the Clean Water Act at its leaking Chesapeake coal ash ponds. The trial spanned 4 days in Richmond, at the end of which Judge Gibney said he was inclined to agree that arsenic was in fact leaking from the Chesapeake coal ash ponds and that Dominion was in violation of the Clean Water Act, but said he was not yet sure of a solution. He plans to rule on the case within the next few months.
This summer also saw the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency close a significant loophole in its coal ash rule. Previously, if utilities managed to close their inactive coal ash ponds within three years of the issuance of the rule, they would essentially escape all federal regulation. We speculate that this is why Dominion was moving so quickly–faster than almost all other utilities in the country–to close its inactive ponds. Thankfully, thanks to a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice and others, this loophole is now removed.
We view this as a significant win. Before this update, inactive coal ash ponds that closed early were not subject to any groundwater monitoring or other post-closure care requirements–basically, they were unregulated under federal law. Under this new rule, Dominion no longer has an incentive to meet the April 2018 closure deadline and, if it does, the company will still not be able to escape the full requirements of the coal ash rule. Dominion’s inactive ponds are now subject to monitoring and corrective action; groundwater contamination at the site is subject to strict cleanup standards; and these monitoring and cleanup requirements apply for 30 years after closure. We hope that this new EPA rule will result in Dominion giving more thought to its closure plans.
Despite these victories, there is still much work to be done. The next permit fight on the table is a dewatering permit for Dominion’s Chesterfield coal ash ponds. These ponds, which sit directly next to a playground and park, hold millions of tons of coal ash. They were shown to be leaking into the James River during a study conducted by Duke University earlier this summer.
This permit process goes before the Virginia State Water Control Board on September 22nd in Richmond, Virginia for a public hearing. The hearing will begin at 9:30 am at the General Assembly Building, House Room C (9th & Broad Streets) in Richmond. This permit still has serious deficiencies–from the high temperature of the released water to impacts to the endangered Atlantic Sturgeon habitat. We need Virginians to come together and show Dominion and state regulators that we demand a closure process that will protect our drinking water for decades to come, not Dominion shareholders’ bottom line. Especially as more southeastern states agree to excavate and move their coal ash to modern, lined landfills, or decide to recycle it–creating an economic windfall out of a toxic situation–Dominion lags farther and farther behind.
I’m hopeful on this campaign, friends. This summer hundreds gathered to march in 100* heat in Richmond to call on Governor McAuliffe to move us away from a future full of fossil fuels and dirty energy. To stand with Virginians, not with Dominion. Our movement is growing in Virginia and beyond. From the beautiful blockade against the Dakota Access Pipeline, to the unprecedented deployment of renewable energy across the globe, the tide is turning. We need your help to push us there.