The GFCA held a public discussion on cleanup plans for the Exxon groundwater contamination during our Town Hall meeting on November 11. About 60 residents and business leaders attended and many questions were asked.

Representatives of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Mr. Alex Wardle and Mr. Randy Chapman, were helpful and stated that the DEQ has a zero tolerance policy on MTBE contamination in private wells.

Representatives of Kleinfelder and Fairfax Petroleum, including Mr. Mark Steele, were not so reassuring, and struck many in attendance to be trying to justify a less-than-through cleanup with cost considerations predominant. 

GFCA representatives reiterated our demand for a more robust and more complete cleanup.

On December 1, 2014, Eric Knudsen, President of GFCA, sent a letter to the DEQ with comments on the Addendum to the Corrective Action Plan, with recommendations for strengthening the proposed cleanup strategy and cleanup levels proposed.  That letter is available here.

We will inform readers further here, when the DEQ takes action on the Addendum.