niedbala@observer-reporter.com
Two environmental groups have filed a motion to intervene in a case before the state Environmental Hearing Board involving the waste-water discharge permit issued for scrubbers now being constructed at Hatfield's Ferry Power Station in Monongahela Township.
The groups claim a permit amendment issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection fails to go far enough to limit heavy metals from waste water that will be discharged by the plant into the Monongahela River.
Citizens Coal Council and Environmental Integrity Project filed a motion to intervene Monday in an appeal before the hearing board by Allegheny Energy.
Allegheny Energy had appealed DEP's decision regarding an amendment to the plant's waste-water discharge permit needed to address waste water that will be generated by the new scrubbers.
The company's $725 million scrubber project is expected to be completed this year.
The scrubbers will greatly reduce air pollution from the plant, removing 95 percent of the plant's sulfur dioxide emissions and limiting emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and mercury.
However, the new equipment also will create a new waste stream in the form of waste water generated by the scrubber process. The waste water will contain numerous toxic metals, including arsenic, cadmium, mercury, lead and thallium, according to Earthjustice, an environmental law firm representing the environmental groups.
Through the use of scrubbers, the company will remove pollutants from the air, but it then plans to discharge many of those pollutants in its waste water, said Earthjustice attorney Abigail Dillen.
The conversion is not "one to one," she said. "But it is significant."
DEP amended the plant's waste-water permit to allow the plant to release waste water from its new scrubbers.
The amendment sets stringent limits on the discharge of sulfates and total dissolved solids, which caused problems on the Mon this fall. However, it also places extremely lax limits on toxic metals, Dillen said.
Many coal-fired power plants throughout the country are using "zero liquid discharge" systems to eliminate any discharge from their scrubbers. However, DEP has not required the use of this same "best available technology" at Hatfield, Dillen said.
Helen Humphreys, DEP spokeswoman, said DEP reviewed the company's permit application and made a decision based on pollutants that will be discharged as well as the conditions of the Monongahela River.
"The department has provided for protective limits specific to the Monongahela River, and we stand by that," she said. The permit does set limits on the discharge of a number of metals, such as lead and silver, and requires the company to monitor and report discharges of other metals, Humphreys said.
Allegheny Energy claims its existing water treatment system cannot meet DEP's new limits and filed the appeal to allow it to bring the scrubbers online this year.
The company had applied for the amendment in May 2007. DEP issued the permit in December 2008, said company spokesman David Neurohr.
DEP's proposal included "more restrictive" limits than the company anticipated, he said. Allegheny Energy would be unable to design and build a plant to treat the waste water to DEP standards by the time it planned to begin operating the scrubbers.
The company wants to complete the scrubbers, which will greatly improve air emissions from the plant, Neurohr said.
"So we appealed, and now in concert with DEP, as we have done in numerous other cases, we hope to work out something to keep us going forward," he said.
Neurohr said once the scrubbers go online, they will operate under restrictive waste-water limits agreed to by DEP until the appeal is decided.
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