Virginia, Don't Let Dominion Power Dump it's Coal Ash Wastewater into the James and Potomac Rivers!
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Water Division
Sitting north of Richmond, Virginia on the James River is Dominion’s 85-year old Bremo Power Plant, which Richmond’s Style Weekly says is holding “more than 255 million gallons of treated wastewater from coal ash ponds."
But Dominion Power doesn’t have to hold on to that wastewater any longer, because VA’s Department of Environmental Quality says it’s now ok to dump this heavy-metal-laden waste into the James and Potomac Rivers! Not surprisingly, says SW, Dominion officials are “happy” about this plan.
However kayakers, fish guides and riverkeepers are not. SW adds that there’s concern not only over recreational activities, but also because Richmond relies on the James for its drinking water. And Southern Environmental Law Center says this “woefully inadequate” permit “would allow the wastewater to enter the river laden with toxic heavy metals at levels exceeding the state’s own standards for protecting human and environmental health." Already the Potomac Riverkeeper Network’s legal director says he’ll seek an injunction to block the dumping.
Another concern is that even though Dominion says it plans to build a treatment plant "to process the wastewater before it goes into the James," the permit doesn’t require it.
Even more upsetting is that VA DEQ seems oblivious to what’s happening in Flint, Michigan, as if there’s a rush to dump this waste before Congress bans this type of polluting nationwide.
Sign this petition to demand VA DEQ reverse its decision to allow Dominion to dump its coal ash wastewater into the James and Potomac Rivers!
To Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality Board Members Who Voted in Favor of a permit allowing Dominion to dump its Coal Ash Waste into the James and Potomac Rivers:
We, the undersigned, join those opposed to your decision to allow this dumping. Furthermore we find this decision particularly offensive in the wake of the Flint, MI poisoning of its drinking water and the reported scandal involving goverment officials' involvement in this health emergency.
According to an Associated Press report, the new permit allows wastewater to be dumped on a daily basis, and finishing the job will take about four years. This source also states the wastewater contains heavy metals at higher than allowable levels, and would “harm spawning striped bass and other marine life and further foul waters already deemed impaired.”
And as for Dominion’s claim that it “intends” to build a plant to process the wastewater before dumping it, critics say that should be required, at the very least, by the DEQ. AP adds that Greg Buppert with Southern Environmental Law Center, which calls the permits “woefully inadequate,” insists that properly treating the wastewater can reduce the “levels of metals significantly," Buppert says the process is well known and routine, and others claim it is inexpensive. Furthermore, Buppert told AP, "That's what we think the Clean Water Act requires."
Though concerns about holding coal ash waste heightened after the catastrophic spill in North Carolina, this apparent push to dispose of this waste quickly and irresponsibly is not acceptable. SELC is rightly concerned that this decision would set a “worrisome precedent” for how the state handles “the problem of coal ash wastewater throughout the Commonwealth."
Before the final permit was issued, “SELC and its partners, the James River Association and Potomac Riverkeeper Network" had requested that DEQ “put much more stringent requirements on Dominion, including the use of readily available technologies to treat the coal ash wastewater and limit the flow of wastewater into waterways."
Now, says the Associated Press Report, Potomac Riverkeeper Network legal director Phillip Musegass says they “have no other choice…but to seek an appeal of this permit, to file a legal challenge to have it rejected."
We, the undersigned, support this appeal and demand a reversal of the DEQ’s decision that would result in further pollution of the James and Potomac Rivers.
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