As the tall smokestacks of the Dominion Power plant in Chesterfield County, VA release voluminous stacks of white smoke into the atmosphere, one cannot help revel at the magnitude of activity taking place below those chimneys. Inside the plant, thousands of
Stacks of smoke released from the Dominion plant.
tons of coal are being converted daily into energy, contributing to the national grid. Outside the plant, far and wide, thousands of households continue to consume this precious commodity to enhance their lives. However, even as we continue to relish this great resource, one cannot help wonder about the plight of the water systems adjacent to or beneath the unlined coal ash ponds of the Dominion power plant.
The Dominion power plant has come under serious public scrutiny for its controversial act of releasing coal ash into the adjacent James River. This act has not been taken lightly given the imminent threat of water poisoning heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and chromium found in coal ash tend to cause. These metals get passed along food-chains in an ecosystem ultimately reaching organisms occupying the higher ecological niches and cause deleterious effects. For instance, in the Pringle article, the author talks about the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge that came under public spotlight after massive deaths of
Kesterson Wildlife Refuge animal deaths
waterfowls and fish were reported. These deaths were linked primarily to heavy metal poisoning by arsenic, selenium and boron. This act resulted in the removal of Kesterson from the wildlife refuge system and it cost the government colossal amounts of money in mitigation efforts.
Public pressure, lobbying by private groups, together with state legislation like as the 1972 Clean Water act have compelled the Dominion plant to adopt a coal-ash management plan to safely dispose its 13 million tons of coal ash currently stored in its unlined ponds. Even
Mounds of coal ash at the Dominion power plant
though environmentalist view this as a momentous advancement in curbing point source pollution of the James River by the plant, storage of coal ash in the earth still poses a big threat to the underground water sources. Given that all water systems are inextricably linked in the hydrologic cycle format, it may be time before the adulterated underground water seeps into subsurface water systems and cause the effects environmentalists are trying to prevent in the first place. Even as the man-environment tussle continues, it is lucid that the environment is often the loser.
References:
- http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2016-09-21/Front_Page/Under_pressure_Dominion_Virginia_Power_seeks_to_qu.html
- Threats to U.S. Public Lands from Cumulative Hydrologic Alterations Outside of Their Boundaries: Catherine M. Pringle, Ecological Applications, Vol. 10, No. 4. (Aug., 2000), pp. 971-989.
- http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/12/03/coal-ash-disposal-proves-costly-and-hazardous-duke-sutton