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Governor McAuliffe Approves Coal Ash Transparency Measure

Steve Helber / AP

Environmental groups are praising Governor Terry McAuliffe for his action on the controversial issue of coal ash. This week, the governor amended a Senate bill to make sure the public has information about polluted groundwater BEFORE Dominion moves forward with a plan to clean it up.

For many years, coal-fired power plants dumped their byproducts into man-made ponds. Now Dominion power has to figure out what to do about all that pollution. One option, which would be much cheaper for the utility, is sealing the pollution in place. Another option would be removing all the pollution, which Democrat state Senator Scott Surovell says would be much better for groundwater.

“These things are leaching out all kinds of nasty stuff into the environment, and I don’t know a lot of Virginians that like arsenic in their oysters. We need to get this stuff right the first time and make it clean.”

The governor’s amendment would force Dominion to release details on how each plan would affect groundwater before getting approval from the state to move forward with one or the other. Robert Richards at Dominion says the utility is still reviewing the governor’s actions.

“We haven’t developed a position yet on whether we oppose or approve of the amendments. Our focus throughout this entire process is to make sure that the work we are doing to close ash ponds is protective of the environment and protective of human health.”

Surovell says getting Senate approval for the governor’s amendment seems likely, and he says the amendments will only need about 16 Republican votes in the House. Lawmakers will be back in Richmond to vote on the governor’s amendments in early April.

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