‘It’s all hands on deck’: Dominion responds to Lake Shawnee concerns, residents still skeptical

POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Powhatan County residents are looking for answers after rain caused red clay to roll from a Dominion Energy construction site into its lakes. Dominion told 8News they hear the residents' concerns and are working to fix it.

The clay has turned the Lake Shawnee water and its connecting lakes murky and muddy, leaving neighbors concerned for wildlife and themselves.  

Powhatan resident Michael Pease made it his mission to find where the clay was coming from, documenting on video when he discovered the clay and rainwater mix was flowing a quarter mile from a Dominion solar farm construction site on Anderson Highway, into a stream connected to Lake Shawnee. 

"There’s no stopping it," Pease said as he described feeling helpless watching the water. "It’s just flowing in, it’s just happening.” 

These before and after photos show just how much this runoff is impacting the water. 

"Part of the reason we were so excited to move out here [was to] look out at this pristine lake," he said.

Pease moved into his home on the water in September. He said the water would turn a little brown after it rained, but things would go back to normal after a few days. 

But after heavy rainfall two weeks ago, he said it's "stayed like this and continually gotten worse.” 

Dominion Energy is taking responsibility for this mishap and told 8News they’re working on a long-term plan to fix it. They said they will present that plan to the Lake Shawnee residents in the coming weeks.  

“I would say it’s all hands-on-deck," said Jeff Miscikowski, Vice President of Project Construction at Dominion. "Both our contractor here and the Dominion team are really mobilizing to put as many resources as we can, get this corrected on site as fast as we can.”

To start combating this now, Miscikowski said they are making sure the temporary ponds on the construction site are working properly to trap stormwater and are accelerating grass growth to absorb more water and help with runoff.

But Pease said as the weather gets warmer, he and his neighbors are skeptical to swim in the water, and the wildlife he typically sees hanging out around is gone. 

“Which is really concerning to think of the health of the water if the birds don’t even want to be a part of it," he said. “But you can tell it’s just got a whole damper on everything. It’s this big brown puddle.” 

He's concerned more rain will only make the water worse if they don’t fix it now. 

The solar farm is expected to be complete in early summer, and Dominion said the panels will be able to power up to 5,000 homes.

“I would say to the residents of Lake Shawnee that, again, we have definitely heard you, it is all hands on deck," Miscikowski said.

The Powhatan County Administrator is also doing an internal audit to determine if county staff has made any mistakes with missed inspections.