'The Power is in Our Hands': Virginia Students Protest Coal Ash Dumping

“Repeal Dominion’s permits!” protesters shouted in unison on Monday during an hours-long occupation of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in Richmond. The state regulator has come under fire for issuing a permit to Dominion Power in January that will allow the utility company to release millions of gallons of toxic coal-ash water into local waterways.

Seventeen students were arrested at the DEQ occupation on Monday, according to the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition, which was behind the protests.

As the protest got underway, the coalition explained their action on EcoWatch: “Thirty-five students from the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition are refusing to leave the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) lobby until the director, David Paylor, complies with their demands regarding Dominion Resources’ dumping of coal ash wastewater into the James River and Quantico Creek.”

The group’s demands were as follows:

1. The DEQ repeals the permits issued to Dominion to begin dumping coal ash wastewater from their Bremo and Possum Point power plants.

2. The current permits are re-issued only after an investigation into the 2015 dumping of untreated wastewater into Quantico Creek.

3. The permits for coal ash wastewater release are rewritten to comply with the best available technology standards, in accordance with the Clean Water Act and that a mechanism for independent third party monitoring is implemented.

The announcement of the DEQ’s permit came less than a month after a damning report from local news site InsideNoVa.com that found the utility had illegally dumped millions of gallons of untreated water from toxic coal ash ponds from its Possum Point Power Plant into nearby Quantico Creek last spring.

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The power company is attempting to clean up its coal ash ponds, bright turquoise pools of toxic byproduct leftover from burning coal for electricity, which Dominion ceased doing in 2003, according to the news site.

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