Coal flyash will not longer be dumped anywhere in Anne Arundel County ? including the two mines in Gambrills that started a controversy.
The County Council unanimously approved Monday night a one-year moratorium on fly ash dumping, and Constellation Energy reaffirmed its commitment made earlier that day that it will no longer dump ash in Gambrills.
“The administration believes this is the best response to a continuous health threat,” said Alan Friedman, government affairs director for County Executive John R. Leopold.
The ash, a byproduct of the coal combustion process at Constellation Energy power plants in the county and Baltimore, was used as a filler to reclaim former sand and gravel pits near Crain Highway.
Officials discovered over the course of the last year that over 20 wells around the mines were contaminated with high levels of heavy metals.
The council?s decision comes on the heels of an agreement between Constellation Energy and the Maryland Department of the Environment ordering the power supplier and the mine owner, BBSS Mining, to clean up the site and pay $1 million.
“We are committed to take the right steps, and this is our formal assurance we will do that,” said John Long, president of Constellation Energy?s fossil fuel power plants.
The bill was easily passed, unlike two weeks ago when the council spent nearly two hours listening to testimony and debating the merits of the bill.
But with MDE?s agreement in place, and Constellation Energy?s assurance it will stop dumping ash in Gambrills, the major roadblocks for the bill?s passage were gone.
MDE did not testify at Monday?s meeting, but instead sent a letter to Council Chairman Ronald Dillon, Jr. from MDE Secretary Shari Wilson.
Wilson said MDE had a neutral position on the bill, and noted that the state agency will have new fly ash regulations in place by December.
Officials credited Leopold, who first drafted the bill three months ago, for sparking quick progress in getting the Gambrills? site clean up. Constellation Energy is now providing clean water ? at the company?s cost ? to the residents affected by the ash dumping.
