Planned closure of Chesapeake plant stirs fly-ash fears

Sep 3 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Marjon Rostami The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

City leaders offered no specifics on Friday about the potential impact of losing the city's biggest taxpayer, Dominion Virginia Power, if the company follows through on plans to close its coal plant by 2016.

The company, which paid $7.4 million in taxes to Chesapeake in 2010, announced its intentions Thursday. It said costs to upgrade the plant to meet new federal environmental standards are too high and that it makes more economic sense to relocate to a new natural-gas-fired plant in Warren County.

One area has already emerged as a possible point of contention, however: fly ash.

Dominion's Chesapeake plant stores fly ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal, in a landfill off the Elizabeth River. The substance has been a topic of controversy and litigation after the Battlefield Golf Course was built using 1.5 million tons of fly ash in 2009.

Mayor Alan Krasnoff said that if Dominion does close the plant, "we will insist that they do so in a responsible manner, which is to make sure it has cleaned up after itself."

Dominion spokesman Dan Genest said the company is not required to remove the fly ash, but that it does have to cap and monitor the landfill, which is lined to prevent the material from seeping into the ground water.

"That's what our permit requires us to do," he said. "Soil and then plant grass on top of it."

In an e-mail, Krasnoff said that if Dominion leaves, "they will have to comply with the letter of the law and do the morally and environmentally right thing."

Asked by phone if he was referring to fly ash, he said, "I meant all of it, whatever is out there."

Dominion said its decision was prompted by new Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are expected to be costly. However, it acknowledged that the plan to close won't be final until new federal air- and water-quality requirements are approved.

Thursday, a Dominion official said the "plan might very well change." And already by Friday, President Barack Obama had abandoned his administration's plans to tighten smog regulations, The Associated Press reported. The change was attributed, in part, to the administration's reluctance to add regulations to businesses in an unsteady economic climate.

Economic Development Director Steven Wright said it's too soon to tell the extent of the economic impact on the city or how it might replace the millions in lost tax revenue.

"We're awaiting more concrete information from Dominion until we are clear what the actual concrete loss would be to the city," Wright said. "We're trying to get a handle on what exactly this means. We don't have a firm grip on what those numbers are right now."

City spokesman Heath Covey said City Manager William Harrell and City Attorney Ron Hallman "have nothing to tell at this point" about Dominion's announcement and would not comment.

Marjon Rostami, (757) 222-5207, marjon.rostami@pilotonline.com

To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.energycentral.com