Virginia Department Of Environmental Quality News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the final air quality permit for Dominion Energy’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project located off the coast of Virginia Beach in the United States.Issued on April 9 following a 30-day public comment period, the permit authorizes the construction and operation of the largest offshore wind project in the U.S.

An estimated 7,500 to 9,000 gallons of Jet A aviation fuel has spilled within Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and into the Potomac River, Friday. A Unified Command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard; Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority personnel, including Airport Operations and Fire and Rescue; D.C. Department of Energy and Environment, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and D.C. Harbor Patrol has been established and is responding to the spill. Airport operations have not been impacted.

Steven E. Avery, 56, of Bohannon, VA, Billy J. Avery, 81, of Virginia Beach, VA, and the corporation Sea Solutions, Inc., all pleaded guilty yesterday in Norfolk federal court to various environmental crimes stemming from their activities in the ship scrapping business. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement that the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen. The three will all be sentenced on July 12, 2012.

Maersk Line will switch to low-sulfur fuel while at berth for all of its containerships calling the Port of Virginia starting in February. This fuel switch program will help improve air quality in the greater Hampton Roads area by significantly reducing emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Maersk Line is the lead shipping line to participate in the fuel switch program sponsored by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Navy announced on September 8 its decision to deepen approximately five miles of the Norfolk Harbor Channel in the Elizabeth River. This action will allow the continuous safe and expeditious travel of aircraft carriers to and from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) and the Lamberts Point Deperming Station. Dredging this heavily-used waterway, which is the federal navigation channel within the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, would occur from the Lamberts Point Deperming Station in the Lamberts Bend Reach, south to NNSY in the Lower Reach. Dredging would occur completely within the existing Army Corps of Engineers-maintained federal navigation channel.

The Coast Guard concluded two days of meetings today with local, state and federal officials as part of its ongoing review to help evaluate the suitability of the Chesapeake Bay for importing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) aboard tankships. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) Baltimore received a letter of intent to resume LNG import operations from the Williams Company at its Cove Point facility in Calvert County, Md., last October. If approved, LNG import operations will involve moving LNG in tankships on the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay to Cove Point where the cargo will be handled and off-loaded at the company’s waterside facility. Under federal regulation (33 CFR Part 127.009), the COTP is required to evaluate the suitability of the Bay for conducting LNG operations.

The tank barge VB 53, which grounded in the upper James River on Sunday, May 8, 2005, was successfully refloated. Divers have determined that there are cracks in the bottom of the barge caused by the grounding. The barge is not leaking at this time. The barge is presently being moved north to the Kinder Morgan facility to be offloaded. The Coast Guard has required the responsible party to provide escort vessels equipped with containment boom and cleanup materials for the transit and transfer. Sensitive areas along the route have been protectively boomed off. Cleanup efforts are continuing, aided by favorable weather conditions. Two vacuum trucks are removing oil from concentrated areas. There are a total of 57 contract personnel engaged in the cleanup.

The federal government will resume disposing of ships from the James River Reserve Fleet, Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton announced. The announcement follows a February 2007 decision by the agency to suspend ship disposal until regulatory discrepancies among federal and various state agencies had been resolved. “Fast and favorable action by the Commonwealth of Virginia allows us to move forward with disposing of these vessels in an environmentally sensitive manner,” said Connaughton. Connaughton also announced that his agency expects to make contract announcements for three ships soon, and to have the first ship move out from the James River within a month.