Chesapeake wants Dominion to help pay for fly-ash fallout

CHESAPEAKE

Two days after the wheels were set in motion to bring public water to people who live near a golf course constructed of fly ash, city officials identified several what it termed potential “responsible parties” that should help pay for it.

The city criticized one of those companies – Dominion Virginia Power – for its response after the first news reports appeared about the course.

The city’s list also includes CPM Virginia LLC, VFL and the current owners, MJM Golf LLC.

“But there may be others, too,” said City Manager William Harrell.

The firms all played some role in the creation of Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville, a 217-acre tract of former farmland, on which 1.5 million tons of fly ash were used to contour an 18-hole golf course that includes a series of unlined, man-made lakes.

In a July 31 letter to Dominion Virginia Power that the city released Thursday, Harrell wrote he was disappointed in what he called the utility’s “initial lack of responsiveness to this critical matter.”

“Your staff assured us in April that the project was properly engineered, constructed, permitted and that appropriate due diligence was followed,” Harrell wrote. “However, the test results received to date clearly do not support this assertion.”

Fly ash is a powdery residue left from the burning of coal to generate electricity. It contains heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury that pose environmental threats to air and water.

Last month, city officials announced that groundwater monitoring on the golf course found high levels of arsenic, lead, chromium and other contaminants. It asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to intervene, and the agency will begin its work at the site on Aug. 25.

Roughly 200 potable wells are near the course.

Testing on the site and of tap water at homes in the immediate vicinity began shortly after a March 30 report in The Virginian-Pilot about the golf course, which opened last fall.

More than 80 tests at homes conducted in the spring showed no significant contamination, though there were some elevated boron readings. Boron can be a “marker” indicating leaching from fly ash into groundwater.

Also on Thursday, the city also released t he results of a round of follow-up tests at 24 homes. It did not show any significant contamination, though slightly elevated levels of boron were detected at every home tested , city officials said.

Harrell asked that Dominion appoint a “senior level official with decision-making capability” to oversee the matter.

In an Aug. 11 response , J. David Rives, a Dominion executive, said he would lead a team of Dominion employees responding to the situation.

“We appreciate how distressing this matter is for the residents,” Rives wrote. “Ensuring that the residents’ drinking water is safe is vital, and I trust our efforts together will result in a clear understanding of any actual or potential threat to groundwater and how best to address it.” The letter does not promise to

Rives said Dominion representatives will attend a community meeting on Wednesday evening at a church near the golf course, joining officials from EPA and the city .

Harrell said earlier this week that preliminary estimates show it may cost between $4 million and $6 million to extend city water lines to Murray Drive and Whittamore Road, which lie near the property.

VFL reportedly trucked the fly ash from Dominion’s Deep Creek plant to the golf course, where CPM Virginia LLC, the original developers, oversaw the course’s construction , city officials said.

MJM Golf LLC, the current owners, bought the property in January 2007, completed the project and operate the course.

The City Council unanimously approved a conditional-use permit for the project in June 2001.

On Tuesday, Mayor Alan Krasnoff, who was on the council at the time the project was approved, asked Harrell to begin the process of extending city water to the affected neighborhoods and to “negotiate” with any parties that may be responsible.

Robert McCabe, (757) 222-5217, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com