Toxic water to be treated, released into Potomac River

Dominion Virginia Power was given a green light this morning to begin de-watering toxic ash ponds near Quantico.

Virginia’s Water Control Board met outside Richmond and approved a permit that allows the energy giant to treat waters consolidated into one of five coal ash ponds at the Possum Point Power Station, and then release it into Quantico Creek and the Potomac River.

The decision comes after multiple local, state, and federal agencies asked for more time to review the plans.

“This is my fifth year on the Water Control Board, and I’ve never seen so many stakeholders, including government entities, request more time for review,” said Roberta Kellar, the one dissenter in today’s vote by the Board.

The move clears the way for Dominion to move ahead with an engineering analysis that will determine how it will treat the water containing the coal ash — a byproduct left over from when coal was burned at Possum Point to create electricity from 1948 to 2003. Those engineering plans will be submitted to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the agency that spent the past three years writing Dominion must follow during the de-watering process.

Potomac Riverkeeper Network Legal Director Phillip Musegaas said he wasn’t surprised by the Board’s decision, and that his organization will now seek an injunction in court to appeal the permit.

Bryant Thomas, with DEQ, said permit goes “above and beyond regular permits” due to public interest in the matter. The agency received nearly 500 comments during a public comment period that ended Dec. 14, 2015.

When de-watering begins, a maximum of 2.88 million gallons of treated wastewater per day will flow into the river. Dominion will be required to monitor and test the outflow drains three times per week during de-watering process, which is expected to last through spring 2018.

Three of the five coal ash ponds — A, B, and C — at the site contain ash but no water and haven’t been used since the 1960s. The coal ash from those ponds is being consolidated into one large wet pond, called D Pond.

Water and coal ash from an adjacent wet pond, called E Pond, will be also be moved to D Pond. Once consolidated, the water will be treated and drained into the river, and the D Pond capped and closed much like a landfill at the end of its useful life.

Stormwater from the ponds has been seeping into groundwater, as well was Quantico Creek for decades DEQ officials said last year. There’s no indication drinking wells at homes along Possum Point Road have been affected, said Thomas.

There is also no connection between the seepage and elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCBs, detected in fish near the site, Thomas added.

Stormwater from E Pond was discharged into Quantico Creek in May 2015 in compliance with DEQ rules. The water sat at the top of the pond and most likely did not mix with coal ash at the bottom of the pond, did not contain coal ash, and flowed into the creek untreated, a Dominion spokeswoman said.

An June 19, 2015 email from DEQ Director David Paylor stated no water from E Pond was discharged into the state waters.

“Either DEQ didn’t know it what was going on at the site, or someone is lying to us,” said Musegaas.

Last fall, the EPA approved new guidelines for the closure of such ponds. Dominion has always maintained it wants to begin the process sooner than later.

“Pond closures are not new, but we have not had the closure of coal ash pond in our region,” Thomas told the Board.

The only other such pond to be de-watered and closed in Southwest Virginia. DEQ officials mandate Dominion monitor water and sediment levels in the waters surrounding Possum Point and cease de-watering if found.

“Once you pump more of heavy metals into the creek, once they’re in there you can’t take them back,” said Virginia State Senator Scott Surrovell, who opposed today’s decision. “Cadmium, chromium, boron, lead, these things are not good for your complexion, and we need to be careful with them.”