The Virginian-Pilot
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CHESAPEAKE
A local legislator has proposed a bill that would tighten the standards for fly-ash projects such as the Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville.
"My bill is intended as an interim fix to prevent a repeat of the Battlefield Golf Club problem - in the interim - until the regulations are revised," said Del. Joe Bouchard, a newly elected Democrat from Virginia Beach.
The bill, HB2419, is likely to come before the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday morning. It would require developers to get a solid-waste permit, and thus be subject to landfill regulations, when using "unamended" fly ash for recreational land use or land contouring.
The state Department of Environmental Quality is in the early stages of revisiting the regulations governing coal-combustion byproducts - including fly ash, a contaminant-laden powder left from the burning of coal for electricity.
A panel of volunteer experts will work with state environmental officials as they re-examine the regulations, but it could take as long as two years before any changes take effect.
The existing rules, in place since early 1995, let developers build a golf course with unlined irrigation lakes using 1.5 million tons of fly ash from a Dominion Virginia Power landfill at its Chesapeake Energy Center in Deep Creek.
Dominion's landfill, and others like it, must comply with state solid-waste regulations - which include groundwater monitoring, the use of liners and periodic visits from inspectors with the Department of Environmental Quality. The golf course was considered exempt because the fly ash to be placed there was considered a "beneficial use."
The rolling, 18-hole course is located near roughly 200 potable wells, according to city officials.
Dominion and developers have said the fly ash used on the golf course was "amended" to prevent the leaching of any contaminants into groundwater.
While Bouchard's bill would put restrictions only on projects using "unamended" fly ash as land cover, he said one of the provisions is to come up with clearer standards for determining what "amending" fly ash means.
"It would direct either DEQ or the Waste Management Board - on an emergency basis - to come up with a definition or standards for amendment that would prevent a recurrence of what happened in Chesapeake," Bouchard said.
Last summer, the city announced that high levels of arsenic, lead, chromium and other contaminants had been detected in test wells on the golf course.
Based on those results, the city asked the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene. The EPA, which conducted tests on and near the golf course late last summer, is expected to release a report on those tests soon.
Early indications, however, did not reveal an immediate threat to human health or the environment, the EPA said.
Robert McCabe, (757) 222-5217, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com
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Rock-Hard Solid or No Re-Use at All
Unless fly ash is morphed into something that is rock-hard solid, like concrete or pavers, the potential to leach potentially toxic metals remains. Generators don't view their industrial debris as waste, merely a by-product for someone else to deal with, but at a real good price don't ya know. In many ways,industries drive the regulatory development process since many states do not have sufficient staff that are fully trained, educated, or knowledgeable on all aspects of every eco-problem, including fly ash. Once suitably skilled staff are available to agencies tasked with protecting their citizens and environments, they are often siphoned off to serve at industry's pleasure and often at twice the rate of compensation. Those on industry's side of the equation have larger voice and foster only the best interests of their employers, and our legislators are all ears. The states' arguements for greater environmental protections are often over-ridden and set aside because the industry has all of the facts - at least that is what they maintain.