Chesapeake takes steps toward Superfund designation for site

I'm here to help.

it is up to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to regulate the use of fly ash.

Where were they during construction? Shouldn't they already be monitoring it now? DEQ should be held as accountable as the developer, engineer, contractor, operator, etc.

If we had nuclear power, this wouldn't be an issue.

So let me get this right, the City of Chesapeake has allowed, no endorsed, the creation of a Superfund site within a half mile of my home in Etherdge Lakes. We do not drink well water, but we do have lakes and we do water our lawns and gardens with well water. Real estate agents will be required to disclose a Superfund site within a half a mile of my house. Anyone with an internet connection can see the Superfund sites on a map. You have killed the future value of my home. Are you immediately reducing the property tax on my home? Are you compensating me now or when I try to sell? Thank you City Council for approving this and not doing your due diligence to protect the citizens. Thank you Hassell & Folkes for lying to the City Council about the safety of fly ash. Thank you Virginia Power for finding a cheap disposal site. This is one class action suit that I will sign up for!

An earlier photo in the Pilot showed where erosion exposed some of the fly ash. The fly ash is supposed to be capped properly. If maintenance of the facility is not kept up, then the current operators of the golf course could find themselves in serious trouble. Dominion has rules that are to be followed, and if the rules were not followed they will avoid serious fines and penalties. The original developer CPM Virginia LLC, has probably dissolved - or will VERY soon. That leaves the current operators responsible, but without deep enough pockets, the Feds will foot the bill.

This entire mess sounds like something that should be a plot for 'The Simpsons' or 'Family Guy' rather than reality. In this day and age, after the disaster of Love Canal and other places, you would think our so-called 'leaders' would have a better handle on things. People of Chesapeake: get ready to vote come November; you certainly deserve better leadership than what you've got now.

Good point, JS, and it seems the City Council and the Mayor of Chesapeake didnt expect this broadsiding.
The problem with cleaning up a Superfund is costly and takes a great deal of time. If I remember right, they have to scrape the soil till the contaminate is no longer present then monitor the site for a specific duration.
In other words, lots of dump trucks and monitoring stuff.
And the attitude of OH FREE MONEY isnt exactly free.. it comes from the taxpayers. The good news is, the City has to direct the funds to the specific clean up; it cant be diverted to anything else.

Apart from the issues regarding how this project got approved, I'm wondering why this article and some readers seem to be taking the attitude "HOO-RAY! FREE FEDERAL MONEY!!"

Hardly. A Superfund designation is probably one of the worst things that could ever happen to property values, not just in the immediate vincinity (those owners could, possibly, be bought out), but in all the neighborhoods even remotely near the "toxic waste dump."

This is especially true in an area such as the Tidewater region because, just as the name implies, it's a low-lying area characterized by water moving around, drainage and wetlands. Even with city water, there will still be at least the perception, if not the reality, that there is a major toxic waste dump on Centreville.

Was there not a way to handle this and investigate it further without making a beeline for a horribly negative label that would define Ch

Why has everyone agreed to hold the engineers from Hassle and Folks harmless? If you listen to the questions of the Mayor at the 2001 meeting, he asked about this material directly and was assured that it was safe to use. The engineer from Hassle and Folks represetned themselves as the experts that could be relied upon to provide the lay-people like council-members assurances that they were making the right decission here. The engineer even stated that he was happy to work with the staff to write the staff report...

When an engineer represents the facts incorrectly, as a profesional he is responsible for his conduct and research. This private engineering firm should also be held liable for this fiasco. If not them, then who???

Wow.. A superfund site in Chesapeake? If there is one time I really have a disdain for the Government and all of its entities, it isnt NOW. I wonder if they are checking the area for other problems and found the potential source of the drinking water problem?
And to be designated as a Superfund site is no laughing matter.. look at Times Beach Missouri and Love Canal.

Thomas Paine. When I drove by the golf course this morning, I was thinking, this wasn't some dump site created in the 50's when environmental issues were not a concern. That is crazy that they are looking to designate something a superfund cleanup that was created less than a decade ago. There is really no excuse for that stupidity.

If this site qualifies for superfund then someone should be asking serious questions concerning the use of this material. If there is no hazard, then why create a superfund site? And if the EPA decides fly ash is hazardous, then every site that used this material for fill should rightly be declared a superfund site. That would include areas surrounding road fill, like 168. No wonder the politicians are antsy.

Time to go after the developers and city council members who did not get an independent appraisal of the risks before agreeing to what looks to be a huge nightmare for us residents. Didn't they mention in a previous article that it was Thelma Drake's nephew involved in the development of this project? Not sure if I am remembering correctly. I hope developers spend every last penny of their money paying to clean this up before our taxpaying dollars are used to fix this mess.

Willis is a republican and she voted yes to Bell Harbor. If she voted No this whimsical project would not have been approved. Remember her vote in the 2010 election.

I saw the city council meeting last week as well when they voted for Belharbour. For the record, all the democrats voted for and the republicans voted against. I hope we remember this when the residents of the new neighborhood sue the city for any number of reasons after the apartments are built.

Here is how responsible they are, a few examples. From building Portlock Elementary school next to a railroad that hauls vast quantities of coal, when built and years afterwards there was no regulation on the fine coal dust this operation spewed and is probably still spewing out, exposing who knows how many children. The Vepco plant off Military Hwy. used to dump fine coal particles into the air, residents of Portlock would wake up to coal dust covered cars. They rushed and built areas off Fentress Road and such, then came "you can't drink the water" cause of super high salt levels which created plenty of work for plumbers and the like from corroding pipes, water heaters, etc. Who knows what health consequences came from that-long term and short? Now this crap comes at no surprise. It’s always been about money, never the people. Responsible…if it was not such a serious problem I would laugh.

So, let me get this straight...in order to save money for the golf course and to the potential players, this company built these so called "beautiful mounds" with Fly Ash buried within them in order to mold them better and to save money (see videos). Not too mention it was approved by the City. Real nice! Why would anyone build a business model like this...now you have a reputation as the toxic golf course. Were they expecting to hold big name tournaments there? Was it supposed to be a place to take the family for a nice golf outing???? Agree with many of the comments below, this should NOT have happened in this day and age. Residents around the area need to fight for their rights, not just settle for something simplistic, like having city water. This is disappointing to the City of Chesapeake on so many levels, it is CONCERNING to the citizens of Chesapeake on so many levels.

Same old cop out. Here's a blast from the past. http://www.deq.state.va.us/export/sites/default/waste/pdf/superfund/chisman.pdf
Yorktown, that's a long way from Chesapeake. News travels slow. Then there's this superfund site of the future. http://www.deq.virginia.gov/export/sites/default/info/documents/GetTheFacts.Narrows.pdf But hey, no problem. The taxpayers will bail them out.

Abbreviated version: "Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act aka Superfund, enacted by Congress December 11, 1980, created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to release or threatened release of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or environment. CERCLA established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites, provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites, and established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified. The law authorizes two kinds of response actions. Short-term removals requiring prompt response and long-term response that significantly reduce dangers associated with hazardous substances that are serious,

If Chesapeake has to pay; it's the taxpayers.
If the state of VA has to pay; it's the taxpayers.
If the EPA Superfund has to pay; it's the taxpayers.
If Dominion Virginia Power has to pay because of its bullxxxx story of 'treated' fly ash, the electric rates will accommodate such payment.

Whoever pays, it will be the taxpayer/consumer.

When the subject of imminent domain came up to condemn private property to allow a business to take over, the Chesapeake City Council voted 5-4 (Thanks Patty), to say, "OK" to the Belharbour Project. Now they just need to vote to condemn the golf course and all the property around it. But why stop there, this isn't a problem for the Council, they can simply vote on it. The left side will get this passed by the margin of 5-4, (again, thanks Patty, we thought you were a change).

Don't worry folks, Chesapeake can vote the left out in 2010 and that includes Patty.. Standing by..

No one will lose their jobs over this. That's not how things work in the government. No, they will say it was a decision made without all the facts and move on. The only loss that will occur will be from the peace and mind of all the residents of this area, along with a ton of money from taxpayers to pay for this mess we had nothing to do with. And you know what? The citizens won't do anything either. The days of running politicians through with a pitchfork are over. We are a kinder, gentler, and more ignorant citizenry now. Otherwise, deals like this one would never have seen the light of day in the first place.

You got to be kidding me! Whether or not it is harmful at that level is the major concern for the people in the vicinity and they should be compensated for any and all related items. The main point you need to consider is what would happen to you "Joe Citizen" if you broke a law, code or failed to comply to anything the City of Chesapeake, State or Federal Government set forth?

So Ground Zero is worthless. In the concentric circles surrounding Ground Zero, moving further out, and perhaps into a portion of Virginia Beach at Elbow Road region can we expect property values to fall? This is known as a "take" in the property condemnation process. You won't believe what the fines and penalties are for CERCLIS violations. It will send chills up your spine.

And the City of Chesapeake continues to look worse on a daily basis. It is evident that no one in charge at city hall has even a functioning brain cell, and merely uses their collective heads for a hat rack. It's amazing, but not at all unexpected, that the city in its quest to appease developers has allowed a beautiful area of Chesapeake to become a toxic waste heap. What's sad and frightening is I know a family on Murray Drive, and I've drank the water out of their well, eaten the vegetables grown in their garden, watered with the water from their well, even brushed my teeth with that water. Isolated instances all, then I think about this family and all the families out there - they've been doing all of those simple ordinary life things for years now, completely unsuspecting of the toxins they've been consuming because of the city's negligence and disregard for public safety, all in the name of the

Stupefying! The Chesapeake City Council has created its own superfund site in 2001, not in the 1930s, 40s or 50s but today. They allowed a developer to dump coal byproducts into farmland acreage adjacent to ground water using residents. They failed to enforce the use permit requirements the golf course developer agreed to, requiring the monitoring of on site wells before, during and after construction. The developer wishing to save money failed to use a clay liner to prevent the contaminate leakage that is now evident. Dominion Power PAYS developers to use the fly ash that is created form the power plant. There are some uses for fly ash in concrete masonry units and foundation material under impervious surfaces when contained (clay liner) and the material is not allowed to leach into groundwater. You don't need an engineering or chemistry degree to find the facts. Now the residents alo

City council is elected to protect the safety and well being of its citizens. Why would the city take the word of a utility company instead of having the fly ash tested before any approval. This is not the first time that our officials have gotten burned due to lack of pre-approval research. The frightening thing about this lack of due diligence, is that it may have a long term negative health affect on citizens they swore to protect. I am praying that these tests at residents homes come back negative, if they don't, the people of Chesapeake need to march on City Hall and demand that complete research and investigation be done before approval of projects that could be detremental to the health of citizens. This is outrageous.

As I read the article yesterday and today about the problems with flyash in Chesapeake I was not surprised. I live in Giles County, VA and we are trying to stop American Electric Power (AEP) and the Partnerships for Excellence (a school foundation) from dumping approximately 274,000 cu.yds. of flyash on the banks of the New River in Narrows, VA. We have been unsuccessful in convincing the County residents that flyash is very dangerous. Instead they believe AEP, the Executive Director of the Partnership, and all of their cohorts.

AEP began dumping flyash in late March 2008 and have had one catastrophe after another. The wetlands, on the property, seeped through the land berm and created a stream of water along the inside of the berm. Pools of water also formed in various places in the berm. Water mixed with flyash makes contaminated water. This water was pumped out of the berm and into a holding (silt) pond. On July 13th we had severe thunderstorms and heavy rains (6+ inches) that caused a breach in the silt pond. Contaminated water mixed with rain water flooded the site as well as an adjoining family campground. Campers and their trailers as well as their outdoor items and the

Having the site designated as CERCLA may not be pleasant for the nearby residents. In Portsmouth homes were lifted to dig out the contamination under them and then set back down on new foundations. CERCLA is NOT free Federal Funding. All costs for the clean-up will go to the responsible party as decided in Federal court. Most likely the Chesapeake taxpayer. To answer the comment below, TCLP testing measures the amount of hazardous constituents that are leaching out. Groundwater flows similar to surface waters. Nearby surface waters will be the first to be contaminated. Heavy toxic metals will eventually sink to the lower aquifer that the houses are using for drinking water. It was well known that fly-ash contained toxic materials when Chesapeake gave the approval for the project. It was simply a case of greed taking precedence over the health of the nearby residents.

City Attorney Ron Hall says the city of Chesapeake is going to "do the right thing." Hmmm. It would have been so much better if the city had simply DONE THE RIGHT THING when this golf course was built. The right thing would have been to NOT use massive amounts of a toxic substance as filler, where it would eventually (and inevitably) contaminate well water and aquifers.

Now the right thing is that the city be forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to pay to remove the fly ash and restore the aquifers to their original condition. Except, cities don't pay fines and restoration expenses; taxypayers do.

Congratulations, Chesapeake, on turning God's beautiful and once-pristine acreage into a potential superfund site. Well done.

The fly ash is a waste product requiring proper disposal. Reuse in any manner does not seem prudent when people, plants, evironmental exposure are expected. FA was used for the I-64 extension through Chesapeake. FA has been used for many office buildings. Trees at those locations literally look stunted and like rubbish, with off-site trees growing normally and faster. Metals will leach, especially with the mildly acidic rain resulting from power plant emissions. Groundwater will be impacted and by the time it moves from the property, the damage has already occurred and will spread to nearby wells. It is probable that irrigation water from the site will damage the turf of the course unless drawn from beneath the impacted aquifer. The CoChes might as well start designing the water system line today and working with the impacted resident for connections. Chances are locals will no long

How much arsenic and lead is it really? Just because you can detect it is no justification to say it is dangerous. At five times the normal level, can it actually do damage to your body enough to give symptoms? Of course, I hope it's a very localized spot and this doesn't affect the residents. If I was in that area, I have to admit I would be bothered.