Dive Brief:
- Dominion Virginia Power will close all of its coal ash ponds, the company announced last week, on the same day the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized new standards on disposal of waste.
- Dominion will close coal ash ponds at four locations in Virginia, draining them and then covering the ponds with a 2-foot liner.
- That may not be sufficient to satisfy environmentalists, who told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the pollution will still exist and coal ash disposal needs to be modernized.
Dive Insight:
Dominion Virginia Power responded quickly to the EPA's new coal ash rule, announcing it would close all its coal ash ponds on the same day the revised rule was published in the Federal Register.
Dominion said it would close ponds at four locations in Virginia: Bremo Power Station in Fluvanna County; Chesapeake Energy Center in Chesapeake; Chesterfield Power Station in Chesterfield County; and Possum Point Power Station in Prince William County.
Dominion no longer uses coal as a fuel at its Bremo, Chesapeake and Possum Point power stations.
"The EPA rules were just finalized, and we have been working on plans based on the proposed rule in order to be prepared," Pamela Faggert, Dominion's chief environmental officer and vice president of corporate compliance, said in a statement. "We are working with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and other state agencies to develop closure plans that are in compliance with the new rules."
Dominion said it would begin work once the company has obtained the necessary permits, and told the Richmond Times-Dispatch it expects to have the ponds closed in three years.
