The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
Lawyers for Dominion Virginia Power on Thursday argued to have two coal- ash lawsuits dismissed, saying a group of residents lacks the legal grounds to sue over waste and potential pollution at Battlefield Golf Club.
After a day long hearing, Chesapeake Circuit Court Judge Randy Smith did not rule. He told the parties he would consider the arguments and research other cases before issuing a decision.
About 460 people who live near the course want more than $1 billion to compensate for what they say are decreased property values, potential health problems and other damages. The suits charge that Dominion and other companies knowingly dumped treated coal ash into a residential neighborhood, polluting wells and risking resident's health.
Dominion lawyers argued that the suits did not meet minimum legal standards to go forward.
The company did not control the coal ash at the Fentress site, said Richard Cromwell, a lawyer for Dominion. They partnered with other companies, which transported the waste from Dominion's Chesapeake Energy Center. The companies treated the ash, transported it to the 200-acre site off Centerville Turnpike and built the golf course.
Cromwell said it's also unclear whether the coal ash has caused any specific health damage. "The entire case should be dismissed," he said.
Ted Yoakam, lawyer for the residents, said the suit meets legal requirements to continue. "Dominion knows perfectly well the charges against them," he said in court. "They conspired to create a waste dump in the middle of my clients' neighborhood and call it a golf club."
Yoakam said that documents show that Dominion was involved with the treatment of the coal ash and construction of the golf course.
Louis Hansen, (757) 222-5221, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
Excuse me,
Have the environmental experts found ANY groundwater or drinking water contamination over there yet? The last time I checked, they STILL had not uncovered anything, nada, zilch. If Vepco created a toxic waste dump, where's the toxicity? Where's the sick people with blood coming out of their eyes? Oh, that's right, we'll have to wait another 20, 30, 40 years for that. But pay me $2 billion please in the meantime. OK, we'll take a little less in a settlement, which is what our ambulance chasers, I mean lawyers, wanted from the start! And, no, we don't care if we drive up electricity costs with our frivolous lawsuit, so long as we get paid!
The Fear is Electric
Dominion's latest antics move beyond avoiding fair settlement. Their object, with limited desperate support of either in house private or in league govt. employees, is to keep a jury from ever seeing evidence about the impacts to the public and environment. It is a decision for a jury of Chesapeake citizens to decide. Elimination of a few electric fat cats should cover the difference. But if the jury doesn't believe there are such impacts, the only apprehension is a further onslaught of expensive feel-good TV commercials about lineman Jerry and his latest help for a junior ballerina troop. Those prime time spots are what jack up your electric rates those could go to make up the difference as well.
Excuse Me....
But would you buy a house in that vicinity? Given all the documents and info that is available online, I believe the main problem they are facing(right now) is the value of their homes. Dominion sold that fly ash, knowing that it wasn't going to be correctly installed in the golf course (it would have been too expensive for them) and basically said OH WELL, we are a large corporation, what will they do to us? Look at the notes of their own meetings, they tried to cover up from the beginning. Long term health effects, we won't know for probably years, but I wouldn't take that risk!
A December 2008 Maryland
A December 2008 Maryland court decision levied a $54 million penalty against Constellation Energy, which had performed a "restoration project" of filling an abandoned gravel quarry with fly ash; the ash contaminated area waterwells with heavy metals. C&EN/12 Feb. 2009, p. 45
I think they may have a case.
Dominion Battlefield Dump
The elephant in the corner here is the Dept. of Environmental Quality, who chose not to reign in Dominion in the first place. They claim they can’t be more stringent than the Feds. Not so if you check Waste Board duties under the Va. Code. Nor does the Code suggest that DEQ should be a tax payer-supported lobby for a monopoly electric utility. In this season of budget restraints, Governor McDonnell, how about cutting this make-pretend Environmental Agency & start protecting the public and environment for real.