CLOSING THE FLOODGATES: - Sierra Club

PART TWOLIVING DOWNSTREAM:COAL WATER POLLUTION ACROSS THE COUNTRYThe hundreds of plants lacking permit limits are notjust numbers: Each one puts a waterway at risk. MostAmericans live, work, or play downstream from a coalfiredpower plant, which means we are all at risk fromthe failure to control this toxic pollution, and we all canbenefit from finally cleaning it up. A journey to downstreamcommunities across the United States revealspoisoned rivers, imperiled communities, and a networkof toxic waste sites that may take years to fullyremediate.1. BIG PLANTS: BIG PROBLEMSNot surprisingly, the largest coal plants are among theworst polluters, and yet even these behemoths oftenlack real pollution controls.LABADIE: LEAKS, SEEPS, AND GUSHINGDISCHARGES INTO THE MISSOURIThe huge, approximately 2400 MW, Labadie PowerStation, which sprawls across the Missouri River bottomsjust upstream of St. Louis, is one of the worstwater polluters in the country.The Labadie plant, the largest coal power plant inMissouri, burns huge amounts of coal every day — somuch so that it is the fourth largest greenhouse gassource in the entire country. 158 The waste from allthat coal — more than half a million tons of it eachyear 159 — is dumped in two ponds, including a 154-acreunlined coal ash pond in use since 1970. 160 Fine alluvialsoil under the pond poses little barrier to contaminants,which can make their way into nearby wells.But Ameren, the company that owns the plant, hasyet to conduct comprehensive groundwater testing,and the state has not required it. The failure to conductgroundwater monitoring and testing is particularlytroublesome given Ameren’s history of dangerousleaks from its ash ponds just across the borderin Illinois, where such testing is required. This meansdanger and uncertainty for residents since the ruralcommunities around the plant depend on well water,and the Missouri River itself is a drinking water sourcefor St. Louis residents.Underground leaks are only the beginning of the problem,though. Amazingly, one of Labadie’s ponds wasallowed to leak massive streams of waste for at leastnineteen years. 161 The leak spilled up to 35 gallons perminute — which works out to 50,000 gallons per day,or about 350 million gallons over the years that it wentuncorrected. 162 It took action by concerned citizens,the Labadie Environmental Organization, and theWashington University law clinic to compel the companyand the state into finally addressing this river ofwaste, at least superficially.But even that egregious leak is not the biggest ofLabadie’s waste problems. The plant dumps far morewaste into the river everyday than it leaks. The ashpond is allowed to directly dump waste into a trenchleading to the Missouri River, and every day it dumps25 million gallons or more, on average. 163 The plant’sdischarge permit was issued in 1994 and has no limitsfor any toxic metal in this discharge. In fact, it does noteven require the Labadie plant to monitor for metals inits ash pond waste. 164That failure doesn’t sit well with citizens of the area. AsChristine Alt, the mother of two small children, and alife-long resident of Labadie, says, “Our family is reallyconcerned that the leaking ash ponds and massive dischargesfrom the ash ponds are affecting the health offamily members. We have eaten fish from the MissouriRiver and local streams that have likely been affectedby the lack of regulation.”Despite these concerns, Missouri has failed to act. Thestate has never updated Labadie’s permit; it brieflyissued a draft permit in early 2013, but then withdrewit. 165 That wasn’t much of a loss: the draft permit waslittle better than the old one. The new permit also hadno limits on toxic metals in the ash pond waste stream,instead requiring quarterly monitoring of boron andmolybdenum, but not of arsenic, mercury, or selenium,among other toxics in coal ash. 166 To make mattersworse, Ameren has proposed to build a new ash landfillin the floodplain (an area with standing water for muchof the year).14 Closing the Floodgates