Source: Morning Call (Allentown, PA, July 29, 2015
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
Allentown-based Talen Energy has reached a $1.3 million settlement with state regulators over the natural resources damage caused by a August 2005 fly ash spill at its Martins Creek Steam Electric Station in Lower Mount Bethel Township.
The proposed settlement is up for public comment until Sept. 23.
If finalized, the agreement would close the book on a decade-old incident in which about 100 million gallons of fly ash, a byproduct of coal-based power plants, spilled across local fields and into the Oughoughton Creek and the Delaware River.
The $1.3 million would pay for dam removal and mussel-restoration projects on tributaries to the Delaware River in the area of the spill. Of that, $373,050 will go to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for New Jersey-based restoration projects.
The settlement, reached under a legal process provided under the federal Clean Water Act, is on top of a $1.5 million fine and corrective actions imposed by the Pennsylvania DEP in May 2008 for violations of various state statutes.
PPL Corp. owned the Martins Creek power plant until this year, when it spun off its electricity generation business, combining it with select assets of the New York City-based Riverstone Partners, to form Talen Energy in June.
The cleanup cost PPL $35 million. It included sealing the basin that contained the fly ash, which accidentally was released due to a malfunction, Talen spokesman Todd Martin said.
“The ash basin was completely capped, done under the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s oversight and permanently closed in 2013,” he said, and will be monitored by Talen going forward.
The company shut down its coal-fired units at Martins Creek in 2007, but left its natural gas-fired generators intact, Martin said. He said no local wells were contaminated, and that no ash has been found in the Delaware River since the spill, which was fully cleaned up by March 2006. Pennsylvania Department of Health determined there were no adverse public health affects.
Some environmentalists aren’t convinced the spill had no lasting impact.
While the Delaware Riverkeeper Network was pleased that the state imitated the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process, and supportive of the dam removal project, it would have liked to see some money set aside for the restoration of the Oughoughton Creek to its natural state.
During the cleanup, bulldozers removed the coal ash slurry from the creek, and the banks were never properly restored, said Tracy Carluccio, the group’s executive director.
“This is a creek that really was heavily impacted directly by the coal ash spill and there is nothing proposed to restore the creek to its natural conditions,” she said.
There’s still some question as to how the spill may have impacted shad populations in the Delaware River, she said. She had hoped for more focus on the “stretch of the river from Martins Creek south that was most directly and substantially impacted.”
State regulators want to know what the public thinks.
“DEP would like to hear from the public on this important and final piece in the resolution of this matter. A significant amount of time and effort has been spent on assessing impacts from the spill and crafting this settlement. We believe this is a sound and well-developed approach to addressing the department’s claims for damages to the natural resources of the region,” Mike Bedrin, director of DEP’s Northeast Regional Office in Wilkes-Barre, said in a statement.
To comment, write to Colleen Connolly, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1915.
Copies of the settlement documents are available in the DEP’s Wilkes-Barre and Bethlehem offices at 4530 Bath Pike. An electronic copy is also available at www.dep.state.pa.us.