Power Plant Water Pollution Threatens Chesapeake
Report: Water pollution standards not up-dated for 30+ years
Baltimore, MD – Maryland’s seven coal-fired power plants dump tens of millions of pounds of toxic metals into the state’s waterways each year, according to a report released today by a coalition of environmental and clean water groups. None are currently required to limit the amounts of arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium they discharge into Maryland’s rivers and streams.
“These are all waterways that end up in our Chesapeake Bay,” said Clean Water Action’s Andrew Fellows. “That means this toxic pollution is flowing towards the Bay, too. When it comes to almost every other source of pollution, no industry is allowed to treat our Bay and its tributaries as an open sewer.
“It’s time to end this free pass for power plant pollution, adds Andy Galli, Maryland Program Coordinator for Clean Water Action. “Power plants should be required to use the best available technology to control and reduce the pollution they discharge.”
Billions of pounds of pollution dumped by power plants into the nation’s rivers, streams, and lakes yearly come primarily from the plants’ coal ash and scrubber sludge wastewaters. The discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm in utero, damage internal organs and cause cancer.
“Toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants makes people and especially young children sick. Those living in the communities around these plants have been coming to us with all kinds of concerns about that pollution – everything from reduced property values to why their neighborhoods are cancer hotspots. It’s time for officials to act,” said Brittani Garner, Clean Water Action’s Anacostia Organizer.
According to the EPA, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from power plants, making coal-fired power plants the number one source of toxic water pollution in the U.S. The human health impacts from this pollution are serious. The EPA estimates that nearly 140,000 people per year experience increased cancer risk due to arsenic in fish from coal plants, nearly 13,000 children under the age of seven each year have reduced IQs because of lead in fish they eat, and almost 2,000 children are born with lower IQs because of mercury in fish their mothers have eaten.
Key findings of the report, Closing the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry Is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can Stop It include:
· Coal plants are now by far the country’s largest sources of toxic water pollution, in the absence of any efficient pollution limits.
· Of the 274 coal plants that discharge coal ash and scrubber wastewater into the nation’s waterways, nearly 70 percent (188) have no limits on the toxics like, arsenic, boron, cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium, while more than one-third (102) have no requirements to monitor or report discharges of these toxic metals to government agencies or the public.
· A total of 71 plants surveyed discharge toxic water pollution into rivers, lakes, streams that have already been declared impaired due to poor water quality.
Overall Maryland data may appear somewhat better compared with most other states, but is still cause for concern. In addition to the lack of toxic water pollution limits for any of Maryland’s plants research shows that;
· Of the seven coal-fired power plants in Maryland, none of them are required to limit the amount of heavy metals they discharge into streams and rivers.
· Only five of the plants are required to monitor for some of the toxic heavy metals of concern.
· One power plant, AES Warrior Run in Alleghany, discharges into the Lower North Branch of the Potomac River, which is already impaired by heavy metal pollution.
In addition, the probability that polluted water discharges from Maryland Power plants will continue and increase is a real one. In Anne Arundel County, the Brandon Shores and 4 Wagner Generating Station's share a 483-acre site adjacent to the Patapsco River. The Wagner units use fresh water from the Patapsco River and then return their discharges afterward back to the river. Chalk Point Station on the Patuxent River is by far the leading polluter in Prince Georges County according to the pollution research site Scorecard.org. In 2002 it produced 5,271,800 pounds (2,391 metric tons) of air pollution (not counting CO2) and 3,702 pounds (1.7 metric tons) of water pollution. The Dickerson station abutting the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park along the Potomac River discharges its cooling water into that river. And the list goes on.
In April the EPA proposed the first ever national standards to limit toxics dumped into waterways from coal plants. But in an unprecedented act the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after closed-door meetings with industry, caved to industry pressure and took the highly unusual and improper step of writing new, weaker options into the draft rule prepared by the EPA.
“It’s unconscionable that the OMB has intervened not to hold the coal industry and these dirty power plants accountable for cleaning up the waters they have polluted over many decades,” says Clean Water Action’s Galli. “Strong standards to limit all power plant water pollution must be passed if we are ever to improve the already damaged waterways that are the vital sources of drinking water for millions of Americans. Certainly this is necessary if we are serious about restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay," he added.
A copy of the groups’ study is available on line: http://f.cl.ly/items/1u2g1N1Z3z1t1p383C2z/ClosingTheFloodgates-Final.pdf
Clean Water Action is the nation’s largest grassroots group active on water, energy and environmental health. With 66,000 members in Maryland, Clean Water Action works for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, and creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses. Clean Water Action favors an energy policy and climate solutions that make water protection a litmus test for sustainability. Energy technologies that degrade and deplete the nation’s water resources need to be replaced with those which preserve and protect them. Clean Water Action.
Report: Water pollution standards not up-dated for 30+ years
Baltimore, MD – Maryland’s seven coal-fired power plants dump tens of millions of pounds of toxic metals into the state’s waterways each year, according to a report released today by a coalition of environmental and clean water groups. None are currently required to limit the amounts of arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium they discharge into Maryland’s rivers and streams.
“These are all waterways that end up in our Chesapeake Bay,” said Clean Water Action’s Andrew Fellows. “That means this toxic pollution is flowing towards the Bay, too. When it comes to almost every other source of pollution, no industry is allowed to treat our Bay and its tributaries as an open sewer.
“It’s time to end this free pass for power plant pollution, adds Andy Galli, Maryland Program Coordinator for Clean Water Action. “Power plants should be required to use the best available technology to control and reduce the pollution they discharge.”
Billions of pounds of pollution dumped by power plants into the nation’s rivers, streams, and lakes yearly come primarily from the plants’ coal ash and scrubber sludge wastewaters. The discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm in utero, damage internal organs and cause cancer.
“Toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants makes people and especially young children sick. Those living in the communities around these plants have been coming to us with all kinds of concerns about that pollution – everything from reduced property values to why their neighborhoods are cancer hotspots. It’s time for officials to act,” said Brittani Garner, Clean Water Action’s Anacostia Organizer.
According to the EPA, more than half of all toxic water pollution in the country comes from power plants, making coal-fired power plants the number one source of toxic water pollution in the U.S. The human health impacts from this pollution are serious. The EPA estimates that nearly 140,000 people per year experience increased cancer risk due to arsenic in fish from coal plants, nearly 13,000 children under the age of seven each year have reduced IQs because of lead in fish they eat, and almost 2,000 children are born with lower IQs because of mercury in fish their mothers have eaten.
Key findings of the report, Closing the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry Is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can Stop It include:
· Coal plants are now by far the country’s largest sources of toxic water pollution, in the absence of any efficient pollution limits.
· Of the 274 coal plants that discharge coal ash and scrubber wastewater into the nation’s waterways, nearly 70 percent (188) have no limits on the toxics like, arsenic, boron, cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium, while more than one-third (102) have no requirements to monitor or report discharges of these toxic metals to government agencies or the public.
· A total of 71 plants surveyed discharge toxic water pollution into rivers, lakes, streams that have already been declared impaired due to poor water quality.
Overall Maryland data may appear somewhat better compared with most other states, but is still cause for concern. In addition to the lack of toxic water pollution limits for any of Maryland’s plants research shows that;
· Of the seven coal-fired power plants in Maryland, none of them are required to limit the amount of heavy metals they discharge into streams and rivers.
· Only five of the plants are required to monitor for some of the toxic heavy metals of concern.
· One power plant, AES Warrior Run in Alleghany, discharges into the Lower North Branch of the Potomac River, which is already impaired by heavy metal pollution.
In addition, the probability that polluted water discharges from Maryland Power plants will continue and increase is a real one. In Anne Arundel County, the Brandon Shores and 4 Wagner Generating Station's share a 483-acre site adjacent to the Patapsco River. The Wagner units use fresh water from the Patapsco River and then return their discharges afterward back to the river. Chalk Point Station on the Patuxent River is by far the leading polluter in Prince Georges County according to the pollution research site Scorecard.org. In 2002 it produced 5,271,800 pounds (2,391 metric tons) of air pollution (not counting CO2) and 3,702 pounds (1.7 metric tons) of water pollution. The Dickerson station abutting the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park along the Potomac River discharges its cooling water into that river. And the list goes on.
In April the EPA proposed the first ever national standards to limit toxics dumped into waterways from coal plants. But in an unprecedented act the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after closed-door meetings with industry, caved to industry pressure and took the highly unusual and improper step of writing new, weaker options into the draft rule prepared by the EPA.
“It’s unconscionable that the OMB has intervened not to hold the coal industry and these dirty power plants accountable for cleaning up the waters they have polluted over many decades,” says Clean Water Action’s Galli. “Strong standards to limit all power plant water pollution must be passed if we are ever to improve the already damaged waterways that are the vital sources of drinking water for millions of Americans. Certainly this is necessary if we are serious about restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay," he added.
A copy of the groups’ study is available on line: http://f.cl.ly/items/1u2g1N1Z3z1t1p383C2z/ClosingTheFloodgates-Final.pdf
Clean Water Action is the nation’s largest grassroots group active on water, energy and environmental health. With 66,000 members in Maryland, Clean Water Action works for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, and creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses. Clean Water Action favors an energy policy and climate solutions that make water protection a litmus test for sustainability. Energy technologies that degrade and deplete the nation’s water resources need to be replaced with those which preserve and protect them. Clean Water Action.
