Legislative agreement will require removal of coal ash at Virginia sites

The coal ash stored in a pond at the Possum Point Power Station near Dumfries will have to be safely removed within 15 years under a bipartisan agreement state legislators announced today. That means Dominion Energy will not be able to cover the waste and leave it in an unlined pond, as the utility had originally planned.

“We have fought for four years for legislation like this,” said Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks. “The dangers of coal ash, leaking into groundwater, drinking wells, our rivers and streams and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay, have long been documented. We are gratified by the leadership of Gov. [Ralph] Northam and Sen. Scott Surovell and are glad to see this agreement in principle.”

Northam announced the compromise legislation Thursday morning with House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and Republican and Democratic leaders from both the House and Senate.

The plan will require safe removal of coal ash at ponds in Chesapeake City and Prince William, Chesterfield and Fluvanna counties.

“This agreement represents a key breakthrough in preserving our natural resources and protecting water quality,” Northam said. “Our effort will ensure we are disposing of coal ash in the safest, most environmentally responsible way, and I want to recognize the General Assembly and members of my team for coming together around a solution.”

The agreement will still need to be passed by both the House of Delegates and Senate and signed by Northam.

The legislation will require more than 27 million cubic yards of coal ash to be removed from unlined ponds in areas near waterways, including 4 million cubic yards of coal ash that have been consolidated from multiple ponds into one pond at Possum Point.

About 25 percent of the coal ash must be recycled for beneficial use, Northam said.

“Moving this material away from areas where it could contaminate ground waters and surface water is the safest way to address the long-standing problem of these coal ash ponds,” Northam said. “As they exist now, we run the risk that they could contaminate the drinking water supply, our tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. And we can't afford an environmental disaster in Virginia like the one North Carolina suffered from the Duke Energy coal ash spill on the Dan River.”

Surovell, D-36th District, and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-2nd District, were among the legislators Northam thanked for working on this issue.  

At a December town hall organized by local legislators and Dominion representatives, residents expressed concerns about how the cost of legislative demands on Dominion might lead to price increases for electricity customers. The compromise bill limits the amount of removal costs that Dominion can recover from ratepayers in any given year.

Senate Bill 1533 also requires that when removing coal ash — either for recycling or to a landfill — Dominion Energy must use rail transportation as much as possible and let the public know a transportation plan for any truck removal to minimize the effects on nearby communities. The bill also stipulates that Dominion use local labor and ensure work is done by responsible contractors that pay fair wages and benefits.

Dominion must submit two annual reports starting Oct. 1 until the ponds are completely free from coal ash.

In a statement, Dominion officials said they were in support of the agreement, noting it “accomplishes clean closure, minimizes truck traffic, and prudently manages customer costs for the closing of ash ponds at our power stations.”

Dominion cannot charge customers more than $5 per month to recover clean up removal costs, according to legislators.

And the utility must recycle at least 7 million tons of the roughly 27 million cubic yards at its four coal ash sites in Virginia that are near the Potomac, James and Elizabeth rivers, according to the Potomac Riverkeeper Network.

Carroll Foy, who lives within walking distance of the Possum Point coal ash pond, said the plan came from working with legislators, Dominion Energy, constituents and environmentalists.

“We heard everyone loud and clear that they did not want these ponds to remain,” Carroll Foy said. “Arsenic, lead and mercury needed to be removed from the community so it would not disturb and have poison in our playgrounds and lead in our water.”