PITTSBURGH—A
statewide environmental group filed a federal lawsuit today against
Reliant Energy, Inc., alleging illegal discharges of potentially toxic
metals into the Conemaugh River from the company’s Conemaugh Generating Station, a large coal-fired power plant located in New Florence, Pennsylvania.
PennEnvironment
alleges that Reliant is in continuous violation of its Clean Water Act
discharge permit. According to the group, the Conemaugh Generating
Station discharges more than three million gallons of wastewater per
day containing selenium, manganese, aluminum, boron, and iron in
concentrations that frequently exceed the limits that were set by the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to protect
water quality in the Conemaugh River.
Some
of these metals appear to come from air pollution control equipment
installed by Reliant in the mid-1990s. Thus, pollutants that had
previously been spewed into the air by the facility are apparently now
being dumped into the water of the ConemaughRiver. The DEP has designated the Conemaugh River as an “impaired water body” because of excessive concentrations of metals.
“At
some point, people simply have to stand up and take action themselves
to protect the quality of their water,” said PennEnvironment director
David Masur. “People living along the Conemaugh River
have reached that point, and fortunately the Clean Water Act empowers
them to enforce the law against persistent violators like Reliant.”
“Two
months ago, PennEnvironment sent a letter to Reliant describing the
ways in which the company is violating clean water laws that are
designed to protect public health and the environment,” explained
attorney Josh Kratka of the National Environmental Law Center, which
represents PennEnvironment. “Having received no response from the
company whatsoever, their only alternative is to proceed with
litigation.”
In March 2006, PennEnvironment released a study entitled Troubled Waters,
which contained data gathered under the Freedom of Information Act
showing that Reliant’s Conemaugh power plant was regularly violating
its clean water permit limits for aluminum, boron, iron, manganese, and
selenium, and was also violating its monitoring requirements for
mercury. On February 6, 2007,
PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club sent Reliant, the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. EPA a 60-day
notice letter stating their intent to sue Reliant if the violations
were not addressed.
The
lawsuit is based on violations at the Conemaugh power plant that were
self-reported by Reliant in monthly discharge monitoring reports
submitted to the DEP. The groups’ notice letter contained a list of
nearly 200 separate violations of the Conemaugh plant’s discharge
limits and monitoring requirements for the various metals since
February 2005.
Both
the federal Clean Water Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law
contain a “citizen suit” provision that allows private citizens
affected by violations to bring an enforcement suit in federal court
after providing 60 days prior notice to the violator and to the
environmental agencies. Citizens can seek a court order requiring
compliance with the law and a monetary penalty of up to $32,500 per day
for each violation of the Act.
In
2004, DEP agreed not to enforce the pollution limits at issue here
until 2011. In the same side agreement with the company, DEP also
reserved the right to extend this deadline indefinitely. That
agreement does not prevent citizen groups from suing to enforce these
limits, which are set forth in Reliant’s Clean Water Act permit and
remain in effect.
PennEnvironment and Sierra Club are concerned that Reliant’s illegal discharges of metals may impede efforts to restore the Conemaugh River,
which has long suffered from the effects of acid mine drainage and
industrial discharges. The harmful effects that some of the metals
discharged from Reliant’s facility may have on aquatic species can be
enhanced by acidic water.
Prominent
among Reliant’s many alleged water pollution violations are discharges
of selenium in excess of permit limits in 19 of 21 months from February
2005, when the limits took effect, through October 2006, the most
recent date for which discharge information is publicly available.
Selenium can be highly toxic to fish and waterfowl.
PennEnvironment
is a citizen-based non-profit, non-partisan environmental advocacy
organization that promotes clean air, clean water, and open space
protection on behalf of its approximately 15,000 members.
PennEnvironment is represented by the Boston-based, non-profit National Environmental Law Center (NELC) and by attorney Thomas J. Farrell of Pittsburgh.
