Two environmental groups claim to have discovered evidence of coal-ash contamination in public areas adjacent to riverside storage sites slated for closure at a Richmond, Va.-area power plant.
Water and sediment tests conducted in July by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and the James River Association at Virginia Dominion Power’s 1,600-MW Chesterfield Power Station revealed high concentrations of zinc, nickel, copper and lead in boating and fishing areas located adjacent to the plant’s coal-ash storage ponds. The groups also claim to have found 292 milligrams per kilogram of arsenic in a sediment sample drawn from a publicly accessible location between the two ponds, estimated to contain at least 13 million tons of coal-ash residue.