A coal ash dump site outside Narrows is not a public nuisance, a special grand jury appointed to investigate the matter has concluded.

"The court is of the opinion that that concludes the matter," Circuit Court Judge Colin Gibb said this morning after receiving the report from the jury foreman.

In January, five members of the Concerned Citizens of Giles County, who oppose the coal ash project, asked Gibb to empanel a grand jury to investigate whether the plan to truck 254,000 cubic yards of coal ash from the Glen Lyn power plant to Cumberland Park in Narrows constituted a public nuisance. Gibb agreed to put jurors to work on the question once coal ash started being dumped, which happened in April.

The plan is to put 254,000 cubic yards of ash on property beside the New River. The Giles County Partnership for Excellence, a nonprofit formed for educational enrichment in the county, plans to use the ash as fill material. The ash would cover more than seven acres about 30 feet deep. That would raise the riverbank to the level of U.S. 460, creating a potential building site for a job-creating business at the edge of Narrows.

The land is zoned for industrial use. The partnership directors say they plan to sell that land and give the proceeds to the county school system to benefit vocational education.