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Chesterfield Coal Ash Ponds Under Scrutiny After Brutal Hurricane Season

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Chesterfield Power Station stores 15 million tons of coal ash on its premises, and environmental groups are worried about it. The coal ash’s close proximity to the James River has caused concern among environmental organizations that a severe flooding event could send the ash spilling into the river. The ash ponds are located less than a half-mile from the riverbank, and only several hundred yards from Dutch Gap Conservation Area, a popular walking and kayaking destination.

According to environmental activist and Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, the power station’s ash ponds aren’t prepared for the type of flooding seen during Hurricane Florence, which caused an estimated 17 billion dollars in damage and wreaked havoc on North Carolina’s rivers last September.

“Older coal ash ponds, like the lower ash pond at Chesterfield Power Station, are at serious risk of breaching and flooding from hurricane events,” Naujoks said. “Anytime [the James River] floods, water is going to go right to that area.”

North Carolina experienced just such an event during Hurricane Florence when a coal ash landfill at Sutton Power Station in North Carolina was breached by floodwaters, and released 2,000 cubic yards of toxic ash into nearby Sutton Lake and the Cape Fear River. The spill has brought renewed attention to the stability of Virginia’s coal ash ponds.

Chesterfield Power Station has two coal ash ponds on site, as well as newly constructed dry ash landfill. Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Nate Benforado said that the ash pond’s aren’t equipped for severe weather, and expressed concern at the power station’s ability to prevent an ash spill.

“Chesterfield is one of the sites we are very concerned with when it comes to flood risk,” Benforado said. “It’s surrounded by water and marshy areas and could very easily flood, and the fact that it’s basically constructed in an active river system is also very concerning.”

The lower coal ash pond at Chesterfield Power Station was built in 1964 and contains two million tons of coal ash. It was classified in 2016 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a “significant hazard.”

A “significant” hazard rating indicates that, in the event of a dam failure or misoperation, there would be economic loss, environmental damage, and disruption of lifeline facilities, including power and water services, in the areas surrounding the coal ash ponds.

The remaining 13 million tons of coal ash are stored at the power station’s upper ash pond. The EPA determined that the upper ash pond’s hazard potential was not significant.

A representative of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) downplayed the possibility of a coal ash spill at the site. According to the DEQ, both ponds at the power plant “should have had plenty of capacity for a rain event, such as a hurricane.”

Dominion Energy, who owns and operates Chesterfield Power Station, is in the process of closing 11 coal ash ponds across four sites in Virginia. Many of the coal ash ponds will be capped in place, including Chesterfield’s lower ash pond.

According to Dominion’s website, the capping procedure involves “removing, treating, and testing the water stored in the ponds, stabilizing the ash material, and installing a protective, multilayer impermeable cover system, topped with two feet of soil and grass.”

Environmental organizations have scrutinized Dominion’s decision to leave the coal ash in place, saying that the unlined ash ponds will continue to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater after they’ve been closed.

“We can’t allow Dominion to cap 30 million tons of toxic coal ash along the banks of Virginia’s rivers and just leave it there indefinitely,” Naujoks said. “At some point it will continue to cause more problems, and has already caused documented 30 years of groundwater contamination.”

In March 2018, Dominion began releasing groundwater reports for the coal ash ponds at Chesterfield Power Station, as required by EPA regulations. According to SELC, the reports showed that ten of the wells at the site exceeded the allowable limit for arsenic, in some cases as high as 17 times the limit. Dominion’s data also showed high levels of chemicals like boron and chlorides in the groundwater at Chesterfield Power Station. These reports were online as recently as last month, but Dominion’s website now has a dead link where they once were.

“We found arsenic at incredibly high levels, 282 parts per million right here, which is higher than many Superfund sites that have really bad pollution problems,” Benforado told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 2017. According to the EPA, the presence of these chemicals at these levels are among the indicators that coal ash pollutants are seeping into the groundwater in the surrounding area.

“The evidence is very clear that the coal ash ponds at Chesterfield Power Station are leaking into the adjacent waterways,” Benforado said.

A 2017 report issued by researchers at the University of New Hampshire found that recycling Virginia’s coal ash for use in concrete manufacturing is a cost-effective alternative to capping the existing ponds, and would substantially reduce the environmental impact of the ponds on the surrounding ecosystems. Dominion Energy hasn’t offered any alternatives to its current plan, however.

“Dominion wants to leave its coal ash on the banks of rivers where it will continue to threaten our rivers and drinking water supplies,” Naujoks said. “Even if it’s capped we’ll still be at risk of flooding, and it will continue to leak because it will stay in these unlined pits.”

Photos via Southwings

NAACP Condemns Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Governor, and Secretary of Natural Resources

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The Virginia State Conference NAACP took state regulators to task for their recent approval of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). In a press statement released Saturday, the group expressed its concerns with the state’s “refusal to protect our land, water and communities,” with a particular focus on environmental and social costs. The group also focused on specific condemnation for the actions of Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler.

“It is well-documented that the permitting processes are flawed, and yet the projects are being allowed to move forward with reckless abandon to our natural environment and communities,” the statement reads.

This criticism came a day after the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved a permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, giving the go-ahead to Dominion Energy to begin its 300-mile, state-crossing construction. The ACP will join the already-in-progress Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), and will include a compressor station in Buckingham that has seen specific focus and disapproval for its placement in the historic, majority black Union Hill.

In a statement acknowledging the opposition brought against the pipelines’ completion, Strickler said, “We remain dedicated to holding them to the highest environmental standards possible pursuant to state authorities.”

The VSC NAACP weren’t the only group to call out the Northam administration’s actions. The Virginia Pipeline Resisters released their own statement Monday that followed a similar track in their messaging. Along with disapproval for the statements Northam has made through Strickland, both the Pipeline Resisters and VSC NAACP highlighted the negative impact the MVP and ACP’s construction would have on Virginia’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities — with the latter citing a report conducted by the NAACP and CleanAir Task Force on the wide discrepancies in those at risk to toxic chemical emissions in the United States.

Deriding statements from the Governor and Secretary as “riddled with falsehoods,” the Pipeline Resisters wrote that “despite deceptions from the Northam Administration, the State of Virginia’s regulatory entities can and should prevent any further work on the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.”

Northam’s approval of the pipelines has proven to a frequent issue, stretching from the gubernatorial campaign trail to the day of his inauguration and well into 2018.

This year has seen both the pipelines and Dominion Energy facing steady criticism from a wide spectrum of voices, from established Democrats like Mark Keam, D-Fairfax, congressional candidates that include Jennifer Lewis, 6th District, and community pushback that extends beyond Virginia state lines.

Northam himself has seen opposition to the pipelines’ construction from within his own administration. The Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice called on the suspension of permit approval for the MVP and ACP in a letter to Northam in August, citing the potential negative consequences for poor, indigenous, brown and black communities in the Commonwealth. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, meanwhile, has been open on his antipathy to the pipelines, meeting with religious and community leaders to discuss the matter in mid-September.

A public hearing on a permit for the ACP compressor station is set for November 8 and 9 in Union Hill, Buckingham. 

A New Phase of Resistance: The Tree Sitters Along the Mountain Valley Pipeline

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As tensions over Dominion Energy’s pipeline projects increase across the state, embittered landowners along the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) path have turned their efforts towards occupation movements.

Theresa “Red” Terry, 61, and daughter Theresa Minor Terry, 30, have been living in treehouse platforms in the woods on their own property since April 2. The Terry property, situated on Bent Mountain, has been in the family for seven generations. Other tree sitters have begun to join their movement throughout the area, such as those who are perched in the woods on Carolyn Reilly’s property, just 30 minutes away.

Theresa Minor Terry’s Tree Sit

“Most people [the pipeline] was affecting have been busy doing lawful things for three years and it’s gotten them nowhere,” Red Terry said. “When they gave the permission to cut on my property, that’s when I decided to go up [the tree]. It’s gotten [MVP’s] attention a lot faster than doing things the right way.”

Reilly and the Terrys are now being held in contempt of court, while the Terrys have been charged with three misdemeanors by the state, including impeding work and trespassing. Both Red and Minor Terry are living on separate tree platforms in two different locations, both near streams running through their property. MVP claims their protest has halted work to cut trees, but the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has forbidden MVP to cut trees within 75 feet of any waterway for the season due to the Roanoke logperch spawning season, a local fish protected by the state.

Police Tent on Red Terry’s Property

“If I weren’t here, they would cut anyway,” Minor Terry said, whose tree perch is described by state law enforcement as an ‘active crime scene.’ Both state police and Global Security, a private security company hired by MVP, share a tent while camping outside Red and Minor’s tree sits.

“We need to be clear with ourselves that this structure of law enforcement is to serve this company over the power of the people,” said Alex, a tree sitter on the Reilly property who is using a different name to preserve anonymity. “I know that this is a way, at least for a time, to stop the construction. They’re getting scared now.”

The Terrys’ court date is set for tomorrow, while the Reillys are set to appear this Friday at 11am. If convicted, they each could be charged with daily fines for every day they remain living in the trees.

Some photos from RVA Mag’s trip to document the tree sits out west can be found below:

The Resistance, Tree Sits
The Camp at Red Terry’s Property
Sign’s Surrouynding Red Terry’s Tree Sit
Minor Terry’s Tree Sit
Police Tent on Minor Terry’s Tree Sit
Carolyn Reilly’s Property
Tree Sit on the Reilly’s Property

All photos by Landon Shroder 

*Editors Note: Keep an eye out for RVA #33 and Madelyne Ashworth’s in-depth reporting on pipeline resistance throughout the Commonwealth. 

Government Agency Denies Seasonal Tree Cutting Extension for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

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In a rare turn of events, last Wednesday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) denied Dominion Energy’s request to extend seasonal tree cutting along the Atlantic Coast Pipeline path (ACP), the proposed 600-mile natural gas line running from West Virginia through North Carolina.

Dominion Energy was originally given until March 14 of this year to cut trees due to time-of-year felling restrictions intended to protect migratory bird species and endangered species such as warblers, owls, and the Indiana bat. FERC determined that “it would not offer an equal or greater level of protection” to extend their allotted time for tree felling, according to the letter sent to Dominion by FERC’s Division of Gas Director, Richard McGuire.

“FERC made the right decision [Wednesday] by holding ACP developers to their promise to protect migratory birds. Tree-cutting restrictions are a critical part of the measures FERC required to minimize the harmful effects of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline,” Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Greg Buppert said in a statement. “Dominion’s last-minute request to renege on its commitments to environmental protection is another example of the company’s attempt to flex its political muscle for quick rubber-stamp approvals.”

Legal teams and environmental groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center, Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club have spent the past several years fighting the pipeline construction. Despite these efforts, Dominion predicts the project’s completion by 2020.

“For any large infrastructure project, we have to plan for contingencies,” Dominion spokesperson Aaron Ruby said. “By rearranging some of our construction plans and shifting some work to 2019, we’ll keep the project on track for completion by the end of next year.”

Back Creek Mountain, Highland County. Photo: The Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative

Thus far, Dominion claims to have cut over 200 miles of trees on the projected pipeline path. This rejection to extend tree felling follows another blatant negligence from Dominion, as the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) cited 15 violations of State Water Control laws and regulations that occurred during the felling along the ACP last month.

“It’s just criminal that they get permission to do this… They just dropped the trees,” said David Seriff, a Virginia landowner. “They got permission to cut the trees, but they don’t actually have permission to start the pipeline yet. It’s a horrible scar across the land.”

Dominion’s sister project, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), has also met resistance from landowners and environmental groups. Similarly to the ACP, locals fear sediment pollution in waterways, unstable conditions due to a karst landscape, damage to private lands and to local endangered species, among other concerns. Last month, MVP began tree felling in the Brush Mountain Wilderness area in the Jefferson National Forest, land that is normally protected by the Department of the Interior.

The United States Forest Service granted MVP the permit required to build through the national forest, roadless land normally reserved for wildlife and outdoor recreation.  

“Normally, the Forest Service is on our side,” said Kirk Bowers, pipelines program coordinator at the Sierra Club. “When Trump came into office, the entire political situation changed and they caved in to pressure from the oil industry and political interests to approve the permits.”

Groups like the Sierra Club and the Southern Environmental Law Center continue to take legal action against ACP and MVP. Dominion has permission from FERC to continue tree felling in the fall, once the migratory bird species move on for the winter.

Dominion Begins Cutting Trees for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

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Dominion Energy has begun felling trees in West Virginia and Virginia along the proposed path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP).

After the Federal Energy Regulation Committee (FERC) approved a Limited Notice to Proceed last Friday to begin felling trees along the proposed path of the ACP, Dominion Energy wasted no time in beginning the process.

“This work will only be done on properties where we’ve reached agreements with landowners,” said Dominion Energy spokesperson Aaron Ruby in a statement. “None of the work will be done in wetlands, near water bodies, or in other areas that require additional federal and state permits. We will, of course, notify all landowners before beginning activity on their property.”

Along the ACP. Photo by Landon Shroder

Although FERC has determined Dominion may begin cutting, any felled trees or vegetation debris will be left in place until further authorization for any ‘earth-disturbing’ activities is granted by FERC.

“Trees and vegetation may be felled at or above ground level, and must use methods that will not rut soils or damage root systems, and be felled in a way that avoids obstruction of flow, rutting, and sedimentation of wetlands and waterbodies,” Dave Swearingen, FERC Branch Chief, wrote in a letter to Dominion executives.

Dominion will be unable to begin cutting trees and vegetation in North Carolina after the state gave Dominion a qualified disapproval of the erosion and sedimentation control permit. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) decided the pipeline project did not meet the state’s standards for erosion control, a concern that persists among Virginia landowners.

“I think it’s an incredibly stupid decision by FERC, because it sets you up for them to do damage to the environment that is difficult to undo, but it is legal at this point,” Richard Averitt said, a landowner and business owner in Nelson County. Tree cutting has not yet begun in Nelson due to the very few number of easements ACP has gained in Nelson County, according to Averitt.

Landowners have struggled with fighting pipeline projects for several years, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which is still in the legal process of obtaining easements from over 300 landowners through eminent domain in Virginia and West Virginia.

“This is a fairly limited action in a fairly limited number of places,” Averitt said. “There are a number of major lawsuits that are being filed that could have effect on this, but at this point, they’re really just cutting down the line of growth on places where people have negotiated and received payment.”

Richard Averitt

Averitt notes that the next step in stopping tree felling will be to fight any cases where ACP is attempting to use the ‘quick-take’ action within eminent domain, which would allow Dominion to cut trees on properties of people who have not settled with Dominion prior to all permits being finalized.

“I feel confident they will not get any of that done,” Averitt said.

Landowners and their lawyers argued against the constitutionality of eminent domain in a hearing last week, a power that is usually reserved only for the federal government and not a private company for private gain. MVP wishes to begin their tree felling by Feb. 1.

While MVP landowners asked for a rehearing, FERC instead issued a tolling order, meaning they will delay a final decision in court while allowing pipeline construction to move forward.

“Dominion is way behind schedule,” Averitt said. “There are a lot of things threatening the pipeline in general, and they’re doing everything in their power to hurry because the legal processes all have the opportunity of killing the project. They know that the more they get done, the easier they have this mysterious argument that, ‘Oh hey we’ve already done all of this work, surely we should be able to continue…’ They’re trying to put on the artifice that it’s all a done deal, which they believe could cause other people to sign easements, to give up, to stop fighting, and sort of saps the will of the people. They’re wrong. We’ve got a strong resistance to stop these pipelines.”

Dominion and Dong Energy to move forward with offshore wind project

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In a July media release, Dominion Energy has announced plans to move forward on an offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. After reaching an agreement with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to lease 2,000 acres on the Atlantic Ocean for wind turbine use, Dominion plans to install two turbines, each producing six-megawatts of renewable wind energy. The turbines will be located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

                                   Photo by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

“It’s a demonstration project to see, among other things, how well wind turbines can withstand hurricane-type conditions, which are prevalent in the mid-Atlantic,”said Dan Genest, media relations/generation or Dominion. 

This is technically Dominion’s second attempt at creating an offshore wind farm. After attempting to initiate a similar project back in 2011, entitled the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Assessment Project (VOWTAP), Dominion could not settle with a large offshore wind company to help fund the project. That’s where Dong Energy comes in.

Dominion Energy has partnered with Dong Energy, a leading offshore wind technology company in Europe, and the largest energy company in Denmark. “We approached Dong because we knew they were an expert in the field, a worldwide leader, and asked them,” said Genest.

Dong Energy will be leading in engineering, building, and maintaining the turbines, including excavation into the ocean floor to install the cables and pipes leading from the turbines to the shore. The turbines themselves won’t be visible from the beaches of Virginia Beach due to the curvature of the earth plus the distance from the shore.

                                                             Photo by Dominion Energy

Additionally, the turbines won’t affect the shipping routes that frequent the waters of the Virginia coastline. “They will be placed on all of the navigational maps,” said Genest. “As part of its research, when it determined what areas could be leased for wind turbine development, BOEM and the Coast Guard and several other state and federal agencies did a very thorough study of all of the shipping lanes. They’ve located an area that has minimum shipping.”

Although the exact number is unclear, Genest guarantees the project will create jobs. “The port of Virginia would be used for importing all of the parts and materials,” he said. According to Dong Energy, the Department of Energy reported last year that more than 500,000 people were employed in the renewable energy industry.

Additionally, Dong states that an average offshore wind project creates up to 1,000 construction/installation jobs, with around 100 year-round jobs, which would be beneficial for the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area, whose unemployment rates range from 3.5-4.5 percent.

“Virginia Beach is an excellent spot for this demonstration and eventual large-scale farm,” Genest said. “In Virginia, there are very few areas that can support wind farms. We just don’t have the winds.”

The coast of Virginia has rather moderate wind rates in comparison to the rest of the country, according to BOEM. Genest said that, after running studies across the commonwealth, there are very few areas that could support a 30-40 percent running time, which is optimal for a wind farm. However, the Virginia coastline has optimal conditions for such requirements.

Since this a demonstration project, Dominion has bigger plans for an offshore wind farm. “If it proves to be successful, and we move toward doing the commercial area, it would have up to 2,000 megawatts of wind turbine production,” said Genest. The 2,000 acres Dominion has leased in the Atlantic Ocean will eventually carry dozens of wind turbines. However, these plans will be for an undetermined future date.  Each megawatt of energy would serve 250 customers of Dominion, meaning this large-scale project could affect a large portion of the coastal cities and perhaps even beyond.

This hopeful project comes at a time where Dominion is under substantial criticism due to the plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), which has greatly upset many Virginia residents. Dominion’s spotty history with renewable energy has affected not only its customers, but also those who are affected by the projects that shy away from renewable energy, such as the ACP.

Genest cites the high prices of installing and maintaining renewable energy, such as solar, for the commonwealth. “We have always believed in renewable energy, but until recently the cost of renewable energy was such that we couldn’t justify it in large scale for our customers,” said Genest.

Breaths are held as Dominion prepares to break ground with Dong Energy off the coast of Virginia Beach. And if all fares well, Dominion will move forward in bringing renewable energy to Virginia.

“As part of the agreement, we have told Dong that they would be eligible if we proceeded to the commercial development portion of this, to work with us on that,” said Genest.