To: David Paylor, Director, Department of Environmental Quality, Robert Dunn, Chair, State Water Control Board, and Governor Ralph Northam
Our Rivers are NOT Dominion's Toxic Dumping Ground!
I demand that Dominion's coal ash dumping permits -- granted by the State Water Control Board to dewater coal ash pits at the Possum Point & Bremo Bluff Power Stations -- be revoked pending a full investigation into allegations that Dominion illegally dumped untreated coal ash wastewater into Quantico Creek in May of 2015. Dominion has no business dumping more coal ash waste into the rivers Virginians rely on for our drinking water, recreation, and livelihoods.
Why is this important?
Toxic coal ash waste -- a byproduct of burning coal that can contain arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals -- is the last thing we need in our rivers.
Yet, in January 2016, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and State Water Control Board approved two highly controversial permits that allow Dominion Virginia Power to dump a total of 550 million gallons of coal ash wastewater into the Potomac and James Rivers.
Virginians rely on these waterways for drinking water, recreation, and their livelihoods. These permits have raised so many alarm bells that multiple riverkeeper groups, the Prince William County of Board of Supervisors, and even the Republican Governor of Maryland are planning legal challenges.
But it gets worse. Just a few weeks later, news broke that Dominion has already dumped 33.7 million gallons of untreated wastewater -- equal to 51 Olympic-sized swimming pools -- into Quantico Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River. This happened in May of 2015, eight months before the Water Control Board issued the permits.
For months, Dominion and the director of DEQ, David Paylor, had denied that any waste had already been dumped. Now they’re admitting it happened, but claiming it was all legal. In response, our friends at the Potomac Riverkeeper Network have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to launch a criminal investigation.
It’s time for Governor McAuliffe to step in. He must demand that his DEQ Director, David Paylor, and Water Control Board Chair Robert Dunn rescind Dominion’s permits until a full investigation is complete.