By Mike Faher
A New Florence power plant is discharging “illegal levels of
potentially toxic metals” into the Conemaugh River – endangering both
water quality and aquatic life – two environmental groups said Tuesday.
State regulators have taken no action even though Reliant Energy Inc.’s
Conemaugh Generating Station has continued to violate its operating
permits, the Sierra Club and Philadelphia-based PennEnvironment contend.
State officials and Houston-based Reliant quickly fired back, saying
they have an agreement that delays governmental enforcement while the
company searches for new technology to address the discharges.
But the conservation organizations already have sent notice of their
intent to file a federal lawsuit if the company does not clean up its
act within 60 days.
“It’s a company that can afford to do better,” said Joshua Kratka of
the National Environmental Law Center, which is assisting
PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club.
Reliant’s Conemaugh plant – not to be confused with the new Seward
Power Plant that burns waste coal nearby – has two boilers that were
commissioned in 1970 and 1971.
The company’s Web site says eight entities share ownership of the East
Wheatfield Township plant. Reliant has a 16 percent ownership interest
and operates it.
PennEnvironment representatives say they first documented the Conemaugh
station’s problems last year in a report titled “Troubled Waters.”
The plant continually discharges too much aluminum, boron, iron,
manganese and selenium into the river, Penn-Environment Director David
Masur said. He added that the facility is not adequately monitoring
mercury discharges.
While the group found many other power plants that violated their
permits, conservationists say the Conemaugh station’s pollution stands
out.
A letter sent by the environmental law center to Reliant on Tuesday
details nearly 200 alleged violations since February 2005. That data
is culled from Reliant’s reports to governmental agencies.
“It’s got just an enormous number of violations, with no indications at
all that anything’s going to change in the near future,” Kratka said.
But state Department of Environmental Protection officials and Reliant administrators argue they are working toward change.
The company said Tuesday that its agreement with DEP acknowledges that
achieving lower metal-discharge levels is not yet possible.
“The agreement also calls for Reliant to monitor new technology and have that technology in place by 2011,” the statement said.
“We continue to look for better ways to lower discharges of these
chemicals at Conemaugh, and we communicate regularly with the DEP about
our progress.”
Reliant also said it uses “the best available technology for removing
these substances from the wastewater discharged into the river.”
DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said the plant’s dilemma mirrors an
industrywide problem: “Scrubbers” installed to lessen air pollutants
cause more-polluted water discharge.
“They aren’t being given a blank check,” Humphreys said of Reliant.
“They’re being given a certain amount of time in which they have to
develop the technologies to effectively treat the discharge.”
PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club, though, are pushing for immediate
improvements. Their lawsuit will ask for a court injunction requiring
Reliant to comply with its permits, Kratka said.
The groups also will seek “appropriate” monetary penalties, he said.
At stake, they say, is the quality of a river that has a history of
pollution. Volunteers and governmental organizations recently have made
strides in cleaning the waterway.
“It’s hard to do that when you have a major industrial facility flagrantly violating their clean-water permits,” Masur said.
