Jun 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Matthew Bowers The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.



A Circuit Court judge ruled today that $1 billion in lawsuits by Fentress-area residents can continue against Dominion Virginia Power and others over complaints that toxic fly ash from a power plant used to build a nearby golf course endangers their drinking water.

Judge Randall D. Smith upheld Dominion's request to dismiss 10 of 12 complaints in the suit, but said lawyers for about 460 residents had presented enough to continue to trial on two issues: whether Dominion created a harmful nuisance, and whether it was negligent in doing so.

Smith read from a rough draft of his 20-page ruling during a related hearing in the case. He had been considering since January Dominion's request to dismiss all counts in the suits as lacking legal merit.

"We are pleased that our ... clients are likely to have their day in court ...," said Roy Mason, an Annapolis lawyer representing the neighbors of the Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville. "Those were the two most important claims for our clients."

 "Big day," said another of the residents' lawyers, Ted Yoakam of Virginia Beach.

Dominion provided 1.5 million tons of fly ash, a residue from burning coal for electricty that contains health-endangering heavy metals, to sculpt the 216-acre golf course. A recent EPA study concluded that contaminants found in water beneath the course posed no health risk to golfers, nearby residents or the environment.

Richard Cromwell, representing Dominion, declined to comment after the hearing.

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