Protect the Schuylkill River from Water Pollution from a Retired Coal Plant in Berks County
The owner of the retired Titus Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Berks County, is proposing to divide the property between the closed power plant and the coal ash landfill in an attempt to avoid more protective permitting requirements. The newly named Beagle Club Ash Landfill is unlined and drains directly into the Schuylkill River through a series of stormwater outfalls on the site.
Genon Rema LLC (Genon), the site’s owner, claims that the retired coal plant no longer needs a stormwater permit and should instead be covered by a less stringent Water Quality Management permit that only requires testing groundwater for dangerous toxins like lead, cadmium and arsenic once a year. A recent report from the Environmental Integrity Project concluded that, “91 percent of coal plants have unsafe levels of one or more coal ash constituents in groundwater.” The report also concluded that the “groundwater at a majority of coal plants (52 percent) has unsafe levels of arsenic, which is known to cause multiple types of cancer” and can “impair the brains of developing children.”
If 10 stormwater outfalls at the power plant site are no longer included in the stormwater and industrial waste discharge permit, Genon will no longer be required to test the outfalls for dangerous pollutants during extreme rain events. Testing stormwater outfalls provides important information about pollutants travelling into the Schuylkill River. Increased rain from more severe and frequent storms resulting from climate change will only increase the movement of stormwater pollution across the site and into the Schuylkill River. For example, Berks County broke a 129-year-old precipitation record in 2018 and climate change impacts are only worsening. This is no time to relax stormwater standards, particularly for a retired coal plant where stormwater outfalls drain directly into the Schuylkill River – an important river used for recreation.
Several times in Genon’s proposed changes to its permits at this site, the company incorrectly claimed it was in compliance with public health standards enforced by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Yet, at the site’s last inspection in December 2018, DEP issued three violations, saying the owner “handles solid waste contrary to rules and regulations, or orders of the Department, or any permit condition…” DEP has yet to reinspect the site, post a resolution to the violation, or post any data regarding the violation.
Please ask DEP to hold a public hearing (when it is safe to do so) regarding this important water quality issue. Genon should not be able to relax monitoring requirements at this site, particularly considering the current violations and the known public health risks of coal-fired power plants so close to major waterways used for recreation.
