Environmental groups sue over coal-fired Yorktown plant

Jan 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Tamara Dietrich Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

Environmental groups filed suit Monday in Circuit Court in Richmond to block a discharge permit renewal for the aging coal-fired Yorktown Power Station, claiming the state failed in its duty under the Clean Water Act to first evaluate its environmental impact.

Discharge permits must be renewed every five years, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) did so for the Yorktown plant last November.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had advised DEQ to set pollution limits first.

But, according to the Charlottesville-based Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club, which filed the suit, the state failed to evaluate the impact of arsenic and other metals discharged into the nearby York River, set pollution limits for coal waste streams and establish ongoing pollution monitoring.

The power station was built in the 1950s along the river and is owned and operated by Dominion Virginia Power. In 2011, Dominion announced plans to end operations at its Yorktown coal units by 2015, citing economic and environmental concerns. It reiterated that intention in its annual integrated resource plan, which was filed with the state last August and is still posted on its website.

But environmental groups are concerned Dominion has not made a binding commitment to do so.