YORKTOWN, Va. - The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency answered questions from people who live near the Yorktown Power Station Thursday night.
They assured neighbors that they are working to stop coal ash from spreading, but neighbors still have questions.
Citizens attend the Yorktown Power Plant meeting Thursday night
"We plan to shutdown units one and two, which are coal burning units, next year in 2019," said Dominion Energy Spokesperson Rob Richardson.
Coal ash is getting dropped off at the landfill until the plant shuts down.
Dominion Energy said the landfill is 60 percent capped with plastic to prevent toxins from getting into the air and water.
Richardson said, "We're here to tell people that we monitor the ground water, we report those reports to DEQ and the EPA and we work closely with them if we see a problem."
However, people are still concerned about the recent severe weather and rain getting to the waste sites.
"We are going to continue to have more severe storms and more severe weather, so how is the integrity of those sites and what's going to happen when we have that much water at these sites?" said Randie Trestrail.
The DEQ and EPA said they are testing ground water several times a year and say there are no signs of contamination.
Trestrail said, "I believe that they need to be verified, maybe by a third party and to look at it and do a little bit of analysis of what the impact could be."
The DEQ said the latest testing results from the power plant and the landfill will be available in January 2019.
