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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

New building site? Or a toxic landfill by the New river?

Giles County debates what to do with a power plant's fly ash

Stories by Tim Thornton
381-1669

Alan Kim | The Roanoke Times

The Giles County Partnership for Excellence owns Cumberland Park and is using coal ash from Appalachian Power's Glen Lyn power plant to raise more than 7 acres about 30 feet. That would put the riverbank at the level of U.S. 460, creating what the partnership says will be a building site for a job-creating business.

American Electric Power’s Glen Lyn plant burns about 2,000 tons of coal each day. That produces about 200 tons of ash daily. For years, the company landfilled the ash on the banks of the New River, near the power plant. Today, AEP wets the ash that settles in the bottom of its burners and sluices it to two ponds, where it is dried and then hauled off. The fly ash that is trapped before it escapes from the plant’s smokestacks is hauled away, too. Some goes to Roanoke Cement Co., where it is used in a variety of masonry products. Most of it goes to a former mine site near Charleston, W.Va.

Alan Kim | The Roanoke Times

Narrows property being readied as a fly ash landfill. See how it looked in March 2008 in panoramic photo.

Now the company plans to put 254,000 cubic yards of coal ash on a site beside the New River, at the edge of Narrows. Over the next three years, that will raise more than 7 acres by about 30 feet. A nonprofit called the Giles County Partnership for Excellence says that will create a building site for a new industry or commercial business. The money the partnership makes from selling the site will reportedly go to vocational education in the county.

A group called Concerned Citizens of Giles County says the toxin-laden ash is a threat to the river and public health.