CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- The Sierra Club of Virginia has filed a lawsuit against Dominion Virginia Power, alleging that the energy company violated the Clean Water Act.
The environmental agency said that arsenic in coal ash from the Chesapeake Energy Center (CEC), on the Elizabeth River, is seeping into the river.
The coal burning plant was closed in 2015, but more than three million tons of coal ash is stored at a landfill on site. Dominion has plan to "cap" the coal ash on site; however, the Sierra Club argues the "cap in place" method will not prevent arsenic from getting into surround bodies of water.
The lawsuit is underway in Richmond Federal Court, and is scheduled for eight days.
Coal ash is the potentially toxic byproduct of burning coal, critics say, and it is made up of aluminum oxide, iron oxide and silicon oxide. It contains arsenic, mercury and other metals.
On Tuesday, hydro geologist Anthony Brown, who called by the Sierra Club, testified that water from precipitation and other sources is running through coal ash at the site. As it does, it is picking up the arsenic and then diluting it into the groundwater underneath the landfill.
Brown argued that the groundwater then discharges into the river and takes the arsenic with it. The arsenic discharging from the CEC site to groundwater is at levels higher than safe standards, Brown testified in court.
Dominion is disputing these claims in court.
The power company released a statement that reads in part:
"Coal ash at Chesapeake Energy Center has been regulated by the Department of Environmental Quality for more than 30 years. Dominion is in full compliance at CEC with water and solid waste permits. And we have 13 years` worth of surface water testing that reveal no contamination of the Elizabeth River."
The Sierra Club argued in court that samples taken at the CEC by a Dominion consultant in 2010 found that arsenic concentration in pore water, which is water mixed with sediment under the river bank, far exceeded federal regulations. The samples were taken at very swallow depths, which shows arsenic from the coal ash is leaching into the river, Sierra Club lawyers argued.
Dominion countered that the sample data used to support this claim was extracted from a report that was submitted the the DEQ and EPA, who found not violations of Dominion's water permits.
Judge John Gibney, who is presided over the case and will make the final ruling, said in court that the Clean Water Act recognizes that companies can dispose of waste in bodies of water as long as they follow strict federal guidelines. Gibney also demanded the lawyer get the point. "This case is not going to be bogged down on stuff that is true!" exclaimed Gibney.
