In collaboration with the James River Association, Hardywood is proud to bring you the first-ever James River Jubilee, a family-friendly event that’s all about celebrating our favorite Richmond River- the James!
The day will be packed full of interactive vendors, jubilant music, cold beer, and tasty food truck offerings- all to benefit the James River Association.
In the wake of debates about the toxic byproducts of coal, local power plants are taking the heat — and local government is taking a stand through legislation.
Coal ash, the toxic byproduct of its namesake energy source, has been at the forefront of recent environmental debates, despite the deep roots of the problem. What historically served as a lifeline of income for people during the early 20th century has cramped the style of modern-day energy gurus such as Dominion Energy.
Chesterfield Power Station, owned by Dominion, stores 15 million tons of coal ash on its property. The close proximity of their coal ash waste ponds to the James River has caused concern from environmental organizations that a severe flooding event could send the ash spilling into the river, according to a recent RVA Mag article.
Coal ash was classified in 2016 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a “significant hazard,” one that could lead to economic loss, environmental damage, and disruption of lifeline facilities in the areas near the coal ash ponds.
The Virginia General Assembly appears to be addressing this “significant hazard” on Dominion Energy’s property through the introduction of a bill that would require the excavation of coal ash stored in the company’s ponds across the state.
Attempting to find a solution, Sen. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) introduced a bill, SB 1533, that would require Dominion to remove 27 million cubic yards of coal ash, recycle and haul the remains to landfills. Although the bill is at an early stage, currently being considered by the Senate Finance Committee, it has already been backed by Gov. Ralph Northam.
Recycled coal ash can be used in a variety of ways — primarily as a substitute for the creation concrete and plaster-like materials.
“The reality of coal ash is that we use it to make products every day,” Surovell told the committee, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We have this thing sitting in our state that is polluting groundwater, and we can use it to make good Virginia products, create some jobs, and clean up the environment while we’re at it.”
Surovell’s bill would also hold companies like Dominion accountable for the project’s upkeep. The bill requires the owner or operator to submit two annual reports, the bill summary states. The reports would include closure plans, progress, water monitoring results, and beneficial reuse proposals.
The biggest challenge this bill will face is its financing. The project would be paid for by the 2.5 million Dominion ratepayers, which, according to an estimate by State Corporation Commission Deputy Director Patrick Carr, reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, could result in an increase of as much as $3.30 per month on individual customers’ utility bills.
With a short session this year, the pressure will be on to get the bill to pass before mid-February. If little is done to prevent the growth of coal ash within the state, air, water, and ground pollution could become a ordeal, as unlined ash ponds will continue to leach toxic chemicals into the groundwater.
“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,” Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks told RVA Mag. “At some point it will continue to cause more problems, and has already caused documented 30 years of groundwater contamination.”
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
The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline is proving to be an incredibly divisive subject not only for gubernatorial candidates, but also local activists and artists. The sounds of construction of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, or ACP, are being matched by the sounds of boots and songs from a local group of activists. “Walking the Line: Into the Heart of Virginia“ is raising awareness and bringing peaceful resistance against the ACP.
The project is a collaboration with local artists, activists, or hybrids of the two, called artivists, mostly out of Albemarle and Highland counties. Landowners affected by the pipeline plans, artists, resistance groups, and many other individuals have come together to walk the 150-mile long path that stretches across five counties, starting in Highland County June 17 and ending in Buckingham County July 2.
“The genesis for the idea came from a very small group of newly formed activists called “Cville Rising”. They wanted to go out and put the feet and the boots on the ground along the pipeline,” said Kay Leigh Ferguson, an organizer and a leader in ARTivism, a Charlottesville-based artistic resistance group.
Ferguson said both artists and activists can come together, each bringing something different to the table.
“There are skills that the artists can bring to the activists and vice versa,” she said. She added that in a “post-fact” era, individual messages strung together with a common thread between them is what really gets people listening.
“This is the kind of message that the arts are particularly good at forming and communicating. The pipeline issues are complex and they cover legal, political, geological, geographical, scientific. While we are trying to shape heart messages, we also want to be accurate,” Ferguson said.
According to Dominion Energy’s website, the ACP will be developed, constructed, and operated by a conglomeration of four major, regionally-based energy companies: Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas.
Dominion Energy’s website boasts an extensive list of facts and resources for the proposed pipeline, including economic benefits (job creation, consumer savings, and energy security), as well as ecological claims, such as cleaner air and backup energy services when wind and solar are unavailable.
The ACP’s website adds that the underground natural gas pipeline will transport locally-produced, clean-burning natural gas from West Virginia into the communities of Virginia and North Carolina, specifically benefiting the communities that need the infrastructure boost.
However, feelings from locals and activists see the fine-print behind these claims made by the powerhouse energy companies. Ferguson’s greatest concern is water pollution. The headwaters of the James, Potomac, and Shenandoah rivers all begin where the proposed pipeline will start in Virginia, up in Highland County.
“This unprecedented 42-inch, larger than before, never before put over high mountains, will be constructed in an area where the geology is like Swiss cheese” Ferguson said.
She noted that the limestone-based foundation, which naturally filtrates water that flows across the valley, will be contaminated from the construction and subsequent fracked gas. She also added that this is the very water we drink in Richmond, which eventually leads into the Chesapeake Bay.
Other concerns from this proposed pipeline include gas leaks, explosions, temporary jobs which result in unemployment once construction is completed, the tax burden Virginians will have to bear, and more.
Pipeline safety is another concern. According to the ACP Safety page, The 42-inch pipeline is protected by a ½-1 inch-thick steel wall with an epoxy coating.
One of the few compressor stations in Virginia will be placed in Buckingham County, which Ferguson connects with environmental racism.
“There’s an African American community literally in a circle around this proposed compressor site” she said. “The compressor site is in the same place as former plantations. These people’s ancestors are buried there in unmarked graves.”
“Some of them bought the land before the end of the Civil War because they were able to buy their freedom,” Ferguson added. “It’s quite literally in that circle around this, sometimes 500 feet away [from the station].”
While local grassroots efforts have stepped up to voice their opposition to the pipeline, Virginia politicians have differed on their views on the issue.
Republican candidate for Governor Ed Gillespie has emphasized his support for the pipeline. His opponent, Democrat Ralph Northam, has not come forward with a stance on the subject.
Earlier in the campaign, Northam’s opponent Tom Perriello announced his staunch opposition to the pipeline.
Ferguson spoke quite passionately about the political aspect of this project, specifically in regards to Northam’s ambivalence.
“If you would have the courage to come out against these pipelines, and to adopt some real ethics and campaign finance reform that would shape Dominion’s chokehold on our state government loose, and cease to take money from corporations that you’re supposed to regulate, then we can talk about working for your campaign,” she said.
The participants and organizers of Walking the Line, including those of The Seeds of Peace Collective and Cville Rising, are using videos and songs, such as the group’s anthem “Sow ‘Em on the Mountain,” to peacefully resist the ACP. However, Virginia Democrats have hired a multi-million dollar firm from New York to combat the pipeline through media and massive funding.
Organizers are encouraging people interested in participating to join the walk, whether it be just for an hour or two, or for a full day. Transportation is provided to bring walkers back to their vehicles during the trek. Donations can also be made either online or by purchasing a Walking the Line t-shirt. The walkers plan on finishing their trek on July 2 in Buckingham County.
We have a little bad news!
If you read last week’s update, you might’ve known that we were slated to plant our grasses on Monday, at Chickahominy Riverfront Park in Williamsburg. This past weekend’s rain, however, had other plans for us.
Unfortunately, the seriousness of flood warnings – even if it seemed pretty chill at the time – caused our planting date to be cancelled. Friday morning, the river height was at about five and a half feet. By Sunday, it had reached about 14 feet. That’s more than twice the average water level, and reached “flood stage” by being over the 12-foot limit.
Even though the water level was at about nine feet on Monday, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation notified us that it’s still too high for us to safely plant our grasses – especially since the program is popular with families and their youngins. We really can’t have little Jimmy floating down the James. Especially since even the fully grown adults have to prepare to get chest deep in the cold, slightly discolored James River water.
The fact that the Editor can’t actually buy me road trip snacks now is a tragedy on par with the global climate change we’re working to undo the effects of.
But we’ve rescheduled the planting for Port Royal on the Rappahannock on May 18th where hopefully everything will go according to plan. The grasses are at full growth and I’m sure dying to get back into a peaceful river and out of this loud and climate unstable stress dungeon we call the office.
It’s not actually that bad. I’m just dramatic. I’ll miss this dungeon dearly when my time is up here.
Check back in a couple of weeks to see me potentially taken downstream on the James, and see the devoted CBF folks and volunteers keep everything fun and moving smoothly.
Riverfront Canal Cruises will return this weekend giving history lovers and Richmonders another season of historical tours along the river.
Now in its 18th season, the popular Venture Richmond attraction features 40-minute narrated tours of the James River and Kanawha Canal designed by George Washington, in flat-bottomed boats.
Those aboard will get a chance to learn about Richmond’s rich history from Chief Powhatan’s Chiefdom to the first commercially successful electric streetcar.
According to the news release, attendees will also get to view the railroad Triple Crossing, Tobacco Warehouses that have been converted into lofts, the Virginia Capital Trail, the Low Line gardens and wildlife.
The boat tours travel along downtown Richmond’s historic Canal Walk every hour and can take up to 35 passengers.
Kicking off April 1, the tours will operate seven days a week from May through September with varying hours in April, October and November. The tours will come to an end November 12.
Riverfront Canal Cruises leave from the Turning Basin at 139 Virginia Street and cost $8 for adults, $6 for children 5-12, $6 for seniors and free for children 4 and under.
Children (5 – 12 years old): $6.00
Private charters cost $100/hour.
All reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance by calling 804-788-6466.
