Over 100 people attended the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Public Hearing on February 16th on Dominion's inadequate solid waste permit for its coal ash at Possum Point. The room was packed. 50 people signed up to speak and their message to DEQ was clear: Honor your mission statement: Protect public health and the environment. Make Dominion clean up their coal ash before more people get sick.

There are 3 things you can do:

1. It's not too late for you to make your voice heard, too -- but do it today because comments are due by March 10! You can send a letter to Prince William County Board of Supervisors and DEQ using form to the right.
2. Several Supervisors have remained silent. That’s why it is absolutely critical that you come to the Board of Supervisors meetings at 2 pm and 7 pm on March 7th.
   This is our last chance to convince them to exercise their local zoning authority to block the state from allowing the coal ash at Possum Point to continue contaminating groundwater, drinking water and our river.
3. You can also submit comments to DEQ on Dominion's solid waste permit by email to PossumPointPowerStationWastePermit@deq.virginia.gov by March 10. [See our fact sheet on why Dominion needs to clean up its coal ash pits.]

DAN'S STORY

Dominion Power’s Possum Point power plant looms at the edge of a residential community just south of Washington. When the leaves are down, Dominion’s towers can easily be seen through the woods Dan Marrow’s children once played in. Dan wasn’t worried about having Dominion as a neighbor until a public meeting last year where he learned that four million tons of coal ash, a byproduct of coal powered electricity generation, are leaking out of pits with less protection than the landfills your household trash is sent to -- and that Dominion’s own groundwater monitoring revealed contamination from carcinogenic coal ash pollutants.

Dan had his drinking well water tested and showed the results to the same Virginia Tech lab that confirmed high lead levels in Flint, Michigan’s water supply. Their advice? Stop drinking the water immediately and move.

Yet Dan and his family had been drinking the toxic cocktail of carcinogenic metals and arsenic for years. Suddenly, the mysterious health issues they’d been experiencing weren’t as mysterious. His son, a hydrologist, told him he didn’t feel that it was safe place to bring Dan’s grandchildren anymore. For Dan, who values family above all else, this was devastating. But Dan isn’t just worried about his own family, he’s worried about others: coal ash is one of largest sources of industrial pollution in the country.

Dan Marrow didn’t tell us his story [view video below] so he’d feel better. He shared it because he thought it might convince you to act. People like you standing up to big polluters is why more than 75 million tons of coal ash have been cleaned up and recycled in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Virginians should expect no less.

Please use the form at right to say no to coal ash! Time is not on our side. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will decide on the Possum Point Permit in a matter of days, not years. This is the same state agency that had their chief regulator attend a lavish golf trip to the Masters paid exclusively by Dominion Power.

Tell the Prince William Board of Supervisors to oppose the Solid Waste Permit and require Dominion to adhere to EPA coal ash regulations that require an assessment of corrective measures to address pollution from Dominion's leaking coal ash ponds. Demand the county use its authority to mandate that Dominion consider all alternatives for cleaning up the site, including excavation and recycling for concrete!

Capping coal ash and leaving it in place might be Dominion’s solution, but it doesn’t protect groundwater, the Potomac River or families like Dan Marrow’s!

Let’s kick some ash! (out of our water!)  Forward this to 5 friends who care about the environment, public health and our rivers.

Dean Naujoks, Potomac Riverkeeper

p.s. Visit our website to learn more and make a donation so we can continue to protect your right to clean water!