Jun 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Robert McCabe The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Prompted in part by two high-profile projects, the state is beginning to examine its regulations for the disposal of fly ash.

On Thursday, a panel will meet at the Richmond headquarters of the Department of Environmental Quality to weigh whether changes are needed to rules that exempt some coal-combustion by product projects from waste regulations, provided developers meet "beneficial use" criteria.

It will be one of two governmental meetings this week that will bring what some environmentalists call badly needed attention to the issue of how to dispose of the increasing amount of ash produced by burning coal to generate electricity.

On Tuesday in Washington, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold an oversight hearing examining "the appropriate role of the federal government in assuring the safe disposal of coal-combustion waste."

The two sessions will come within months of news reports about two large Virginia fly-ash projects:

- The 217-acre Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville, sculpted from 1.5 million tons of fly ash from Dominion Virginia Power's coal-burning power plant in Deep Creek; and

- A nearly 15-acre project along the New River in Giles County, roughly half of which will be filled with 275,000 tons of fly ash and other coal-combustion residue from American Electric Power's coal-burning facility in Glen Lyn.

In both cases, the Department of Environmental Quality found the developments qualified as "beneficial use" projects, exempting them from state permitting requirements under Virginia's solid-waste regulations.

Fly ash is a powdery residue produced from burning coal for electricity.

It can contain heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium that can leach into groundwater.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been studying the risks fly ash poses to human health and the ecology for decades. Although the EPA has determined that fly ash is not hazardous waste, it is still subject to regulation as an industrial waste.

In 2006, about 125 million tons of "coal-combustion by-products," including fly ash, were produced in the United States, and 43 percent of them were used beneficially, according to the American Coal Ash Association Web site. Such use can include as additives to plastics or concrete, in road building and more. With the EPA's blessing, an increasing proportion of the fly ash is being dedicated to commercial applications such as structural fill in construction projects. The EPA hopes half of all coal-combustion byproducts produced nationally will be committed to commercial uses in 2011.

Members of the House subcommittee, part of the House Natural Resources Committee, will hear from several environmental experts and industry representatives in a session described as a "Coal Ash 101" overview.

The state Department of Environmental Quality meeting will be the first of at least two sessions that will look at whether the state needs to adjust its coal-ash disposal policies.

The review involves the creation of a new committee -- the "Coal-Combustion By-Products Technical Review Committee" -- which will make recommendations to another panel studying possible changes to the state's solid-waste regulations.

The golf course project, which was granted a conditional-use permit by the Chesapeake City Council in 2001, was later found to be in compliance with state regulations governing beneficial-use projects.

Since The Pilot's story on the course's potential health risks was published March 30, Chesapeake city officials have identified roughly 200 potable wells within a 2,000-foot radius of the outer boundaries of the golf course.

The city offered free water tests to roughly 75 homeowners in the vicinity of the golf course in April. The results showed some elevated boron levels, which can be a marker of fly-ash contamination. No link, however, has been determined.

The city has also hired an engineering firm to conduct water and soil tests on the golf course. The testing is on-going and results are not yet available.

Dominion has said that the fly ash used on the golf-course site was mixed with "cement kiln dust" or "lime kiln dust," which binds the ash and blocks leaching.

Robert McCabe, (757) 222-5217, robertmccabe@pilotonline.com