Coal Combustion Waste Dump Site in Giles County

The Cumberland Park Project in Giles County, Virginia was planned by American Electric Power to create a 7 acre building site along Route 460 in Narrows, VA, which is in Giles County. The project was said to use a “structural fill material” which is a mixture of compressed coal ash and soil to build the foundation for the site. It is said that over 254,000 cubic yards of fly ash is to be used to assemble the location by 30 feet. Giles County citizens argue that proper measures were not followed in the authorization process for this project, such as no public involvement by the citizens of Giles County. “Under state environmental regulations, this fill project avoided stricter permitting requirements otherwise required for hazardous waste sites because a “beneficial end use” was proposed.” Over 254,000 cubic yards of this coal combustion waste or CCW is being dumped close to the New River, which contains lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and an assortment of other toxic heavy metals, which include some radioactive elements. These heavy metals and toxins contained in the waste have been known to leach out when rain, highway runoff, or other water gets nearer to such landfills. Citizens of Giles Country took legal action, but did not stop the dumping 100%. However, they put them under strict regulations until they can stop the dumping all together.

This issue really demonstrates the themes of conflicting environmental and economic needs, power of corporations, and the power of the people. AEP chose to dump their coal on one of the poorest counties in Virginia and pretend they did nothing wrong. They tried to take advantage and choose their economic needs over the environmental impact of the New River Valley and the health of the Giles County citizens. AEP assumed that these poor citizens did not have the knowledge to argue any activities they were doing, till the citizens made a collective action to fight back when they realized their groundwater was being contaminated and AEP was trying to just cover it up by creating a building site on top of the location. This issue is a direct violation of the Water Pollution Control Act. By dumping these toxins and metals, the water is no longer swimmable or drinkable for Giles County citizens and needs to have stricter requirements. The disposal of the AEP coal sludge is now being regulated by the Concerned Citizens of Giles County and tested regularly for toxins.