U.S. Water News Online
PITTSBURGH -- Reliant Energy Inc. violated its Clean Water Act discharge permit by pumping water with illegal levels of potentially toxic metals into a river near one of its power plants, according to two environmental groups.
PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club notified the Houston-based co-owner and manager of the Conemaugh Generating Station in New Florence that they intend to sue over the discharges into the Conemaugh River.
The violations could hamper efforts to clean up the river, which has suffered from acid mine drainage and industrial discharges, said David Masur, director of PennEnvironment. Pollutants in the discharges can be made worse by acidic water, he said.
The violations occurred "practically every day" the coal-fired plant has been operating in nearly the past two years, the groups said.
Reliant spokeswoman Pat Hammond said the company is complying with an agreement it has with the state Department of Environmental Protection covering wastewater discharges.
The agreement acknowledges that technology does not yet exist to enable Reliant to meet the discharge levels, and instead established those levels as goals, Hammond said. The deal also calls for Reliant to monitor new technology and have it in place by 2011.
"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 on this front,"she said.
Reliant has a 16 percent share of the plant, which it operates for a consortium of eight owners. It generates 1,700 megawatts annually.
In a study last March based on a Freedom of Information Act request, PennEnvironment found water-treatment plants, factories and other facilities continued to discharge illegal amounts of pollutants into state waterways. PennEnvironment then went through the data in more detail.
"It's one of the most egregious violators we found in our research,"Masur said.
Conemaugh regularly violated its discharge limits for aluminum, boron, iron, manganese, and selenium, and had violated its monitoring requirements for mercury, according to the groups.
The plant, which sends 2 million gallons of water daily into the river, exceeded its daily maximum and monthly average discharge limits for various metals nearly 200 times between February 2005 and October 2006, the groups said. They based that number on monitoring reports that Reliant submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Reliant has the financial and technological ability to clean up the problem, Masur said. By not doing so, it sends a message to other polluters that there are few consequences, he said.
The Clean Water Act contains a provision that lets citizens bring enforcement lawsuits after notifying the alleged violator and state and federal environmental agencies.
The National Environmental Law Center is representing PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club.
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