Appeals court rejects new hearing in Dominion coal ash case

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal appeals court has rejected a request from the Sierra Club to hold a new hearing to reconsider a ruling that Dominion Energy’s discharge of arsenic from a coal ash storage site does not violate the U.S. Clean Water Act.

The Sierra Club’s lawsuit alleged that arsenic is illegally flowing from a landfill and ponds where Dominion stores coal ash from a retired power plant in Chesapeake. It alleged that arsenic flowed from the site through groundwater into surrounding waters.

A judge found in 2017 that Dominion had violated the law, but that ruling was reversed last month by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Sierra Club asked for a rehearing before the full court. On Wednesday, the appeals court rejected that request.