Virginia golf course built on fly ash

March 30, 2008 - What sets Battlefield Golf Club at Centerville apart, however, isn't the course's layout or water hazards; this 18-hole playground is sculpted from 1.5 million tons of "fly ash," a charcoal-gray powdery substance left behind by burning coal to make electricity.

If this were not a golf course, an industrial park or a similar venture, it would have to be regulated like a landfill. But because of a provision in the environmental regulations encouraging the "beneficial use" of fly ash, it's considered a "coal combustion byproduct" project instead of an industrial waste landfill.

The ash for Battlefield Golf Club came from a Dominion Virginia Power coal-burning plant 20 miles west in Deep Creek. Monitoring wells at the plant's fly-ash landfill have shown that unacceptably high levels of arsenic leached into groundwater. Arsenic, one of a number of heavy metals found in fly ash, has been linked to cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Seven years ago, homeowners near the golf course knew fly ash posed a threat to water quality and voiced their concerns to developers in community meetings.

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Virginia landfill added to EPA Superfund list

March 21, 2008 - It has been almost 20 years since toxic chemicals were discovered in residential wells surrounding the Hidden Lane landfill, but residents of the Broad Run Farms community might finally get some answers soon, as the site was listed this week on the federal list of the most hazardous waste sites in the country.

Carcinogen trichloroethylene was discovered in wells surrounding the Hidden Lane landfill in 1988. Hidden Lane, an unlined landfill, was closed by the county in 1984. Testing in the Broad Run Farms community north of Rt. 7, which borders the landfill first began five years after the closing when local residents complained about the site. By 2005, 67 wells had been tested and 25 that tested positive for contamination had water filtration systems installed with help from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

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Local landfill suspected source of TCE contamination in 26 residential wells in Virginia

January 4, 2008 - he EPA had proposed in September that the long-closed landfill be added to the agency�s Superfund program, established to clean up abandoned hazardous sites. Remedial project manager Fred MacMillan made a presentation to the supervisors at their last meeting to let them know what the EPA would be doing at the site, where it expects to begin work in March.
The landfill was long suspected as the source of trichloroethylene (TCE) that was found in 26 wells at nearby homes. The chemical is an industrial solvent and a carcinogen, and ingestion of it can cause nervous system, liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat and coma, as well as birth defects if consumed by pregnant women, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

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Groundwater contamination concerns in Fairfax Virginia

December 12, 2007 - Residents of the Mantua neighborhood in Fairfax have a gasoline tank farm in their backyard.

Residents of Lorton drive by a landfill that caused concern a few years ago when elevated levels of contaminants were found in the groundwater.

While not directly connected to the supplies used by Fairfax Water in homes for drinking and cooking, groundwater quality does have an impact on the environment across the county.

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Virginia residents concerned about TCE contamination in well water

November 1, 2007 - Expressing concerns about Trichloroethylene (TCE) in well water and the possibility of the carcinogen spreading, Broad Run Farms residents have called on the EPA to expedite replacing well water with public water.

Fred MacMillan, EPA Region 3 remedial project manager, however, said the agency cannot start implementing solutions to the TCE contamination until March 2008 and public water is one of several options. March is when the agency is expected to actually add the Hidden Lane landfill, considered the TCE’s probable source, to its Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).

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TCE Taints 26th Well in Virginia Town

October 4, 2007 - Trichloroethylene (TCE) has been found in another well in Broad Run Farms, two and a half years after authorities tested 68 properties and discovered the carcinogen in 22 wells, officials say.

The well is located on the front lawn of the 20000 block of Redrose Drive. TCE is a chemical used to remove grease from metal parts. Exposure to water with small amounts of TCE over long periods of time can cause liver and kidney damage, impaired immune system, function and impaired fetal development in pregnant women, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said.

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Potentially Tainted Well-Water Raises Concerns in Sterling Virginia

September 19, 2007 - otentially tainted well-water has raised concern in Sterling after a neighborhood was placed on a superfund list to clean up a hazardous waste site.

And Jackie Walker is not taking any chances. She has a filter on her well water to keep out a cancer causing chemical, tricholorethylene, or TCE, that comes from a nearby landfill.

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