Residents on Potomac River Coal Ash Plan: We weren’t notified

Virginia environmental officials took questions Tuesday night from the public about a plan to treat toxic water and drain it into the Potomac River.

Residents who live near Dominion Virginia Power’s Possum Point Power Station outside Dumfries and across from Quantico say they’re fearful of the plan, which could lead to higher than normal levels of heavy metals in Quantico Creek and Potomac River that would flow downstream to the Chesapeake Bay.

Those waters would be drained from a large coal ash pond at the power plant called “D pond.”

Coal ash is what’s left behind after coal is burned to create electricity. Possum Point switched to gas technology and stopped burning coal in 2003. Coal ash has been stored in water ponds at the site since the 1950s.

Dominion says it must get the water out of “D Pond” before it can cap and close it. Virginia’s Water Control Board is set to vote January 14 on final approval of a permit, written by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality that will set limits on the levels of toxic materials allowed in the water if the toxic water treatment and drainage begins.

DEQ will stop accepting public comments on the permit on December 14.

A toe drain at Possum Point has been draining water from a coal ash pond, groundwater from a natural dam containing the water in the coal ash pond, and storm water, for about 50 years, said Virginia DEQ spokesman Bryant Taylor.

The draft permit does not set safe limits on the amount of heavy metals that may come out of that drain. It does set maximum limits on 14 “toxics” commonly found in coal ash, including arsenic, cadmium and zinc.

The permit will require monitoring of sediment and water at the toe drain site to occur weekly. Dominion must monitor levels of heavy metals and report back to state officials, per the permit written by DEQ.

“We’ve done tests in the area of the toe drain that show higher than normal toxins int he water, and you have that data,” Potomac River Keeper Vice President Nick Nutter told Virginia Department of Environmental Quality officials.

The tests of sediment and water taken around the toe drain do show higher than permitted levels of heavy metals, but there is some “uncertainty to that data,” added DEQ officials.

Fishing advisories are frequently issued for the Potomac River warning fishermen not to eat carp, American eel, and catfish they catch, said Taylor. In November, Taylor told Potomac Local there are not accelerated levels of heavy metals in the water or the sediment at the toe drain.

Working under a permit issued in 2013, Dominion moved coal ash from four other ponds at the power plant into “D Pond” where they wish to drain it, between May and October 2015. The movement consolidation of the ash is the impetus for the new permit.

Some asked if water has been leaking out of the toe drain for 50 years, what is the need for the new permit now being considered.

“The recent stirring up of the ash is not aligned with [the drainage that’s been] going on during the past 50 years,” said Taylor.

Quantico Mayor Kevin Brown told DEQ officials his town council and residents were not notified of the plan to allow Dominion to treat and maintain the water. DEQ officials confirmed they notified Town of Dumfries officials, but not those in Quantico.

“I’m going to consult with our town’s legal council and see what options we have to delay this action,” said Brown. “January 14 is just not enough time for us.”

Several residents at Tuesday’s meeting noted a lack of communication from DEQ notifying them of Dominion’s permit request. The agency held a two-hour public meeting November 18 at the request of elected officials to answer questions from the public on the plan.

Prince William County Public Works chief Mark Aveni said the Prince William County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution asking for a 60-day extension of the public comment period on the Possum Point permit.

“If the comment period is not extended, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors will oppose the issuance of the permit,” said Aveni.

Delegate Scott Surovell said he, along with elected officials in Fairfax County, requested a 60-day extension on the public comment period but were denied. 

The process of treating the coal ash water and draining it would be a first for Dominion. The company is in talks with a third party about using a large sand filter to treat the water and then to release it, said Dominion Director of Electricity and Environment Cathy Taylor.

The treating and drainage of water at Possum Point would begin shortly after Dominion’s permit is approved. Once the pond is drained leaving behind coal ash, a synthetic liner will be put in place in at the pond, then 18 inches of soil, and then a 6-inch vegetation layer that will have plants and grasses, said Taylor.

If Dominion’s permit is approved, other utility companies will monitor how Dominion’s treatment process to learn best practices, said Taylor.

More than 50 people attended the public hearing at the Northern Virginia Regional DEQ Headquarters in Woodbridge. It was the final public hearing scheduled before the state Water Control Board’s vote on Jan. 14, 2016.