- Details
- Roanoke River Basin Association
- News
After several decades of leadership to the Roanoke River Basin, President Gene Addesso announced his retirement at the end of 2015.
After several decades of leadership to the Roanoke River Basin, President Gene Addesso announced his retirement at the end of 2015.
After some 14 years of effort by the RRBA and other major stakeholders in the Basin, we are happy to report the 216 Study at Kerr Lake has finally been terminated. Since the only activity left in the study was the potential improvement to Water Flow Operations, the USACE determined that a change of that kind, requiring no capital expenditures, could be implemented by just gaining approval of a change to the Kerr Lake Water Control Plan.
Following the Dan River Coal spill in the winter of 2014 the Roanoke River Basin Association took immediate action to participate by monitoring, advising and involvement in the efforts to clean-up and mitigate the impact of Dan River Spill. Additionally we began to advocate for the prevention of future coal ash spills in all the waters of the Basin by supporting efforts aimed at elimination of unlined storage of coal ash in and around Basin Rivers, specifically sites at Lake Mayo, Hyco Lake at Roxboro, and Belews Creek. Contamination and spills at these lakes would seriously damage both ground water and surface water of tributaries that flow into main rivers and lakes in the Roanoke River Basin.
A Prospective on Government Regulation Reliance
Considering the issue of the lifting of the ban on uranium mining and milling in Virginia, one must ponder the outcome if that was to occur. Obviously we would have to rely on the series of Federal and States regulations and enforcement agencies to protect the health and safety of the environment and people exposed.