Date: April 26, 2012
Source: The Environmental Integrity Project
Environmental groups argue that new data indicates that at least 49 power plants have groundwater contamination surrounding their coal ash disposal sites that exceeds state or federal water quality standards. They say 28 of those came to light only recently once the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) was able to examine data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Their report is part of a full court press to pressure EPA to quickly finalize a rule subjecting coal ash to strict hazardous waste rules. EPA has proposed regulating ash as either hazardous waste or subject to less stringent solid waste rules, an approach favored by states and industry, but a final rule is not expected until 2013. Environmentalists have long argued that existing state controls and voluntary industry efforts to control ash disposal are inadequate to protect against potential water contamination, pointing to the major coal ash release from a collapsed impoundment at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) power plant in Dec. 2008. EIP's report says data collected from 91 power plants in 2010 shows that 49 of them reported excessive levels of various pollutants, including arsenic, boron, manganese and selenium, in groundwater surrounding their impoundment sites. The remaining 42 plants failed to respond, cited confidential business information, or said that groundwater monitoring data was not available.
PRESS RELEASE
April 26, 2012
EIP Report: 116 Disposal Sites at 49 Coal-Fired Power Plants Polluted With Arsenic Or Other Toxins
EPA Freedom of Information Act Request Uncovers Violations of Safe Drinking Water Act and Public Health Risks at 28 Previously Unidentified Collection Ponds in CO, IA, NC, SC, TX and WV
At least 49 power plants have acknowledged groundwater contamination at levels that exceed federal or state standards, according to data submitted to the USEPA Office of Water and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). At least 28 of those have come to light only recently, including five in West Virginia, three in Iowa, North Carolina, and Texas, and two each in Colorado and South Carolina (see analysis and highlighted attachment).
Plants reported exceeding federal or state groundwater standards for at least multiple pollutants that are subject to Safe Drinking Water Act or federal Health Advisory standards, including:
Arsenic (a potent carcinogen) at no fewer than 22 plants;
Manganese (a metal that can damage the nervous system in high concentrations) at 22;
Boron (a pollutant that can cause damage to the stomach, intestines, liver, kidney, and brain when ingested in large amounts) at 12;
Selenium (a toxic pollutant that causes adverse health effects at high exposures) at 13; and
Cadmium (a toxic pollutant that can damage the kidneys, lungs, and bones) at 10.
Standards for some of these pollutants were frequently exceeded at more than one disposal unit on the plant's site, and at many ash ponds or landfills, the standards were exceeded for multiple pollutants. Specific data about actual concentration levels is not available, because it was not requested by EPA.
The information was originally requested by the USEPA Office of Water to help the agency evaluate the potential toxicity of wastewater containing ash or scrubber sludge that may be discharged to rivers or lakes. Forty two of the 91 coal-fired plants surveyed by EPA either did not respond, had no groundwater monitoring data, reported that available monitoring did not indicate that any standards had been exceeded, or claimed confidentiality. Plants responding to EPA's survey may be measuring some, but not all, contaminants subject to health-based standards, and lack of uniform monitoring standards for coal ash disposal sites means that methods of detection and measurement vary from state to state.
EIP Director Eric Schaeffer said: "Some of these plants were under the radar, and had never been identified before by EPA or in our earlier reports on Ash Ponds and landfills. EPA's Office of Solid Waste is still grinding away on proposed standards for coal ash disposal - more than three years after the TVA spill - but has somehow never found the time to require testing of the groundwater next to coal ash sites, or even to systematically collect the data that is already there. This "see no evil" approach leaves the public at risk, and makes it easier for polluters to duck responsibility for a growing problem."
ABOUT EIP
The Environmental Integrity Project (www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for effective enforcement of environmental laws. EIP has three goals: 1) to provide objective analyses of how the failure to enforce or implement environmental laws increases pollution and affects public health; 2) to hold federal and state agencies, as well as individual corporations, accountable for failing to enforce or comply with environmental laws; and 3) to help local communities obtain the protection of environmental laws.
For more information, contact:
Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266, or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com.
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