Dive Brief:

• The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) this week issued a draft permit to allow Dominion to drain a coal ash pond at the Chesterfield Power Station into the James River, incorporating stricter standards into environmental protection. 
• Public comment will be accepted through July 21, and the State Water Control Board has targeted September for a final decision.
• The draft permit incorporates stricter standards, which environmental group James River Association hammered out in talks with Dominion, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Dive Insight:

Dominion Virginia Power continues to navigate the slow process of closing down 11 coal ash ponds, and a draft permit issued this week would move it a step closer to draining a single pond at the Chesterfield plant. The permit envisions using stricter pollution controls, as were put in place at the utility's Bremo and Possum Point stations.

So far, the Times-Dispatch reports, testing at those facilities has shown water being drained from ponds into the James River is exceeding permit standards.

“You’re going to see big improvements as we install different components of that system between now and 2022,” Dominion Environmental Manager Jason Williams told the newspaper.

Environmentalists were pleased by the DEQ's decision to incorporate the tighter standards. “It sort of sets a new benchmark for permits like this that are coming out, so that’s great news,” James River Association's Jamie Brunkow, told the paper. “I think we want to build on that. ... We’re going to be digging into that over the next few weeks to provide substantive comments.”

Dominion's plan to drain almost a dozen coal ash ponds around Virginia is expected to cost $500 million, with costs including a seven-step water filtration system before the water re-enters waterways.

Earlier this year, Dominion confirmed it released almost 34 million gallons of untreated water from a coal ash pond into Quantico Creek. And last year, a U.S. District Court rejected the utility's bid to dismiss a Sierra Club lawsuit for alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act and a state permit. The suit claims that arsenic and other pollutants are migrating from coal ash stored at its shuttered Chesapeake Energy Center into the Elizabeth River.