State lawmakers have nearly reached a deal to extend a moratorium on Dominion Energy’s plans to bury millions of tons of coal ash at four sites around the state, including one at the Possum Point power station outside Dumfries.
Legislation backed by state Sen. Scott Surovell, D-36th District, breezed through the House of Delegates this week, unanimously passing in a committee hearing on March 1, and is now set for a floor vote. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, so it’s looking increasingly likely that the compromise measure will head to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk before the General Assembly’s session wraps up on March 10.
Surovell and several other Prince William County lawmakers introduced a whole host of bills aimed at addressing the coal ash issue at Possum Point and elsewhere this session, but those measures either died quick deaths or were delayed for additional study this summer. All that remains is Surovell’s legislation, which would bar Dominion from permanently closing any of its “coal ash ponds” still filled with the waste material until July 1, 2019.
