{"id":8352,"date":"2014-03-18T17:28:44","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T21:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=8352"},"modified":"2014-03-18T23:24:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T03:24:41","slug":"live-at-the-deq-coal-ash-update-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/18\/live-at-the-deq-coal-ash-update-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"LIVE! at the DEQ Coal Ash update meeting (3\/18\/14)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not only do we have the happenings from the DEQ coal ash spill update meeting, we’ve also got tonight’s Danville City Council meeting highlights!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

5:25 PM – Chuck Vipperman runs two state guys out of his normal seat. Do not get between Chuck and his audio feed. Heh.<\/p>\n

5:30 PM – Mayor Saunders starts the meeting by introducing all of the city council members and staff. That wasted a few minutes.<\/p>\n

5:40 PM – DEQ guy says coalash collecting boom has been removed. Water quality standards are met for fish, wildlife and drinking water. Fish tissue samples are clean, not unexpected.<\/p>\n

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Reimbursement for expenses is a big issue. Duke Energy is willing to do that.<\/p>\n

Clean Water Act violations will be cited.<\/p>\n

5:50 PM – Question time. Very little coal ash stopped by the booms. Most of it was dispersed in the river. Preliminary assessments say there is a low level of concern for floodwaters and livestock.<\/p>\n

6:00 PM – Katie Whitehead tries to throw out a leading question about corporate influences on Virginia’s coal ash ponds. Tossed aside and answered by saying that if there’s a problem, it will be fixed.<\/p>\n

I’m really beginning to believe that this coal ash spill danger was handled properly and there’s no real danger to the Dan River anymore.<\/p>\n

6:10 PM – Gary Miller and a Dept. Of Health environmental epidemiologist answer answer questions about water quality standards.<\/p>\n

Alonzo Jones thanks everybody for these meetings. Yes, it’s campaign season. Heh.<\/p>\n

6:20 PM – Clock’s starting to run out. All state agencies appreciate help of the citizens. Health Department is not advising people to stay out of the water, just to exercise caution.<\/p>\n

Unified command headed by the EPA is still in control of the situation.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: We’ll move into LIVE! Danville City Council coverage at 7PM here on SouthsideCentral.com<\/p>\n

7:00 PM – City Council meeting gets underway with Duke Energy updating on the coal aah spill.<\/p>\n

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7:10 PM – Duke Energy continues their presentation. Full house in the audience tonight, and all councilmembers are here.<\/p>\n

It will be a three month cleanup process down to the Schoolfield dam. They’re acquiring the needed permits. They’re mailing a letter to all landowners offering free water testing.<\/p>\n

7:20 PM – Duke Energy’s community relations guy talks about what all this coal ash can be used for. The Eden coal ash has the least volume of all of their coal ash ponds.<\/p>\n

City Council is asking questions now. Lee Vogler asks will Duke help the Danville area out. Duke Energy says “whatever we can”.<\/p>\n

7:40 PM – Duke Energy: “You can count on us to do the right thing”<\/p>\n

Gary Miller gets semi-combative about long-term health effects such aa increased cancer rates. Um, what? The water is as safe as it’s ever been.<\/p>\n

Adam Tomer asks why we should trust Duke Energy now after exposure of their actions before. Answer from Duke Energy is something like “Hey, look! A squirrel”<\/p>\n

8:00 PM – The presentation and questions continue. Sherman Saunders asks when it will be safe to fish again. Duke guy is polite in saying to check with your local health department as always.<\/p>\n

8:10 PM – City Manager Joe King reveals that Danville is one of three finalists for a company to come to the Mega Park and he believes that the other competitors are mentioning the coal ash spill as a Danville negative. Interesting…<\/p>\n

Fred Shanks does the “I’m not mad at you, I’m disappointed in you” speech. Damn, that tactic gets me every time.<\/p>\n

8:30 PM – We’re back after a quick recess. Citizen comment time starts with James Turpin talking about the lack of cost of living increases for their pensions. That explains why there is a full house as most are retirees.<\/p>\n

I’ve got mixed feelings on this topic, but I have to realize that the time of pensions for life is well in the past. There’s no easy way to say “no”, but it’s got to be said. According to Turpin the 544 retirees have an average pension of over $1500 per month. That’s not bad at all.<\/p>\n

That being said, I’m interested in the proposal to pay a one time bonus out of the retirement fund that’s almost fully funded. The retirees haven’t gotten any increase in five years.<\/p>\n

9:00 PM – Oh boy, Merle Rutledge is here! He’s wanting to talk about the alleged bad deeds of the Danville police department. The mayor shuts him down quickly by asking if he’s met with the city manager about his concerns. He hasn’t, so that meeting is set up and Merle goes away. Damn.<\/p>\n

I didn’t think much about it at the time, but two extra Danville police officers left the council chambers once Merle Rutledge left. Interesting.<\/p>\n

Around the horn time starts, and I’ve got to give credit to Alonzo Jones for mentioning my article from Sunday<\/a> and asking if there’s ways that the police department can better inform neighborhoods of crimes that happened near them.<\/p>\n

That’s about all from City Council chambers. You’ve got it here and you’ve got it first on SouthsideCentral. Keep spreading the word!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not only do we have the happenings from the DEQ coal ash spill update meeting, we’ve also got tonight’s Danville City Council meeting highlights!<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[58,22,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danville","category-opinioncentral","category-politicscentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-2aI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12319,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/07\/my-speech-to-danville-city-council-4715\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":0},"title":"My Speech to Danville City Council (4\/7\/15)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As promised, here is my speech that I made at Tuesday night's Danville City Council meeting. Greetings, I come before City Council tonight to express my opinion on the current water taste issue. I believe that the City of Danville has badly mismanaged this issue and as a result, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9348,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/15\/danville-city-council-live-7152014\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":1},"title":"Danville City Council LIVE! (7\/15\/2014)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Photos and more comments have been added, and this article is complete! It's time for another meeting of Danville City Council and you know that SouthsideCentral is going to cover it LIVE! The meeting starts at 7PM and we'll start our coverage around 6:30 PM. You know how it works...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/NC8pu1y.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/NC8pu1y.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/NC8pu1y.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/NC8pu1y.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8191,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/11\/live-at-danvilles-epa-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":2},"title":"Recap: LIVE! at Danville’s EPA meeting","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"February 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here you go. I've edited the LIVE! feed so that you can view our comments & photos from the start of the meeting until time ran out. 5:55 PM: The presentation is all set up. 6:11 The party's started. I got Sheila Baynes next to me. Yay! 6:25 Full house\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LIVE!Central"","block_context":{"text":"LIVE!Central","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/livecentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/dC4fLSv.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/dC4fLSv.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/dC4fLSv.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/dC4fLSv.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8189,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/11\/live-coverage-of-the-epas-coal-ash-meeting-in-danville-tonight\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":3},"title":"LIVE! coverage of the EPA’s coal ash meeting in Danville tonight.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"February 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We've got the power, we've got the technology.We'll see you at Danville's City Hall at 6:30 PM and here on SouthsideCentral. SouthsideCentral will be LIVE! at tonight's meeting with the EPA about the Dan River coal ash spill. We'll open up a new article which you'll want to refresh often\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BlogCentral"","block_context":{"text":"BlogCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogcentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11204,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/17\/coal-ash-information-forum-live-11172014\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":4},"title":"Coal Ash Information Forum – LIVE! (11\/17\/2014)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"November 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We're LIVE! at the Institute for a Coal Ash Spill Community Information Forum. The meeting runs from 6PM to 8PM and you'll get the only LIVE coverage of this event here on SouthsideCentral. Here's the media release on what is going to happen today... You are invited to a Community\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/6Kqbtl5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/6Kqbtl5.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/6Kqbtl5.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/6Kqbtl5.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10458,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/01\/breakdown-danville-city-council-coal-ash-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":8352,"position":5},"title":"BreakDown: Danville City Council Coal Ash Meeting","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We've covered tonight's Danville City Council closed session meeting in the previous article. Let's do a BreakDown on it... Let's get a quick Big Board... If this had been a regular \"here's how this Duke Energy settlement thing is going\" type of meeting, it would have been over in less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BreakDown"","block_context":{"text":"BreakDown","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/breakdown\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8352"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8386,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8352\/revisions\/8386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}