GROUPS: 25 INDIANA AND VIRGINIA COAL-ASH IMPOUNDMENT SITES ARE IN IMMEDIATE NEED OF REPAIR OR EVALUATION IN LATEST EPA INSPECTIONS

Potential Seen for Loss of Life in Indiana and Major Polluting of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Should Dams Fail; Indiana is Home to Two-Thirds of Coal Ash Dump Sites Rated “Poor” in Latest Round of Inspections.

WASHINGTON, D.C.///February 15, 2011///Just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released plans for 15 electric utilities to improve the integrity of coal-ash impoundment sites, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Earthjustice, and the Hoosier Environmental Council warned today of major unresolved coal-ash dump site problems that could potentially jeopardize human life and pose a serious threat to the environment in Indiana and Virginia.

The three groups warned that major problems have been detected at a coal-ash impoundment pond at Dominion Energy’s Chesapeake Energy Center located in Chesapeake, Virginia, which could pollute the Elizabeth River flowing directly into the Chesapeake Bay. In Indiana, the groups highlighted major concerns at two dozen coal ash-ponds at three Indianapolis Power & Light plants (in Indianapolis, Martinsville and Petersburg) and one Northern Indiana Public Service Co. site in Wheatfield.

The situation in Indiana is particularly serious because of the failure of the State of Indiana to require appropriate safeguards, like regular inspections, emergency response plans, and design of dams by professional engineers, according to the groups.

Indiana generates over 9.5 million tons of coal ash annually and ranks third in the country for ash generation and first in the number of coal ash ponds, leading the country with 53 ponds at 16 plants. In April and May 2010, EPA conducted inspections of coal ash ponds at 20 power plants nationwide including ponds at six Indiana coal-fired power plants. The inspectors gave a “poor” rating to 35 ponds, and 24 of the “poor” rated ponds (two-thirds of the total) were found at four Indiana power plants. These 24 ponds in Indiana include 6 high hazard dams, 15 significant hazard dams and three low hazard dams.

Tim Maloney, senior policy director, Hoosier Environmental Council, said: "For decades we've seen damage to Indiana's drinking water and rivers and streams from the state's poorly regulated ash ponds. We now learn that utilities have neglected to maintain the dams to protect public safety and health. It is clear that the State of Indiana has dropped the ball, and EPA must step in with national standards to prevent a disaster."

Jeff Stant, director, Coal Combustion Waste Initiative for Environmental Integrity Project and who is based in Indiana, said: “Even after two 30-million gallon spills of ash slurry into the White River from IPL’s Eagle Valley Station ponds in 2007 and 2008 were followed by the catastrophic collapse of the ash pond dike at TVA’s Kingston Plant, EPA finds that leaks and sagging ground in these Indiana ash pond dams are not being adequately maintained and that the state is doing nothing to inspect any of them. Hoosiers should be able to expect much more from their power providers and state regulators. Here’s just one more solid reason why a national regulation of these waste ponds is needed by EPA.”

Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel, Earthjustice, said: “Most of the dams rated “poor” will likely take human life or cause substantial economic and environmental damage if they fail. It is the responsibility of the utility operating the ponds to ensure a break never occurs. But when polluters fail to protect public safety, it is the responsibility of the regulators to step in. It appears that all have failed the citizens of Indiana and Virginia.”

The Dominion Energy Chesapeake Energy Center plant’s bottom ash and sedimentation pond is ranked a “significant” potential hazard, because a failure would release toxic coal ash to the Elizabeth River, which would flow into Chesapeake Bay. Inspectors rated the condition of the pond “poor.” The pond is contained by an earthen dam and is unlined, holding fly ash, bottom ash, and leachate contaminated with arsenic from the plant’s onsite dry ash landfill. “Urgent” repairs were identified as being needed to address slope failures at the pond.

To date, Dominion Energy is under no formal order from EPA or the State of VA to complete the necessary investigations, analyses or repairs. The same plant was the source of the 1.5 million tons of ash used to create Battlefield Golf Course, which is now an EPA damage case, where ash has contaminated groundwater with heavy metals. The issue of arsenic contamination of groundwater has festered for almost a decade at the plant’s 22-acre dry ash landfill. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has measured arsenic at one monitoring well as 30 times higher than the safe standard; at another, more than 11 times higher.

The four Indiana power plants and the ponds rated as “poor” are as follows:

1.  Indianapolis Power and Light, Harding Street Power Station, Indianapolis, IN

The ponds identified as “poor” include three high hazard ponds, one significant hazard pond and a low hazard pond.

2.  Indianapolis Power and Light, Eagle Valley Generating Station, Martinsville, IN

The ponds identified as “poor” include one high hazard pond and four significant hazard ponds.

3.  Indianapolis Power and Light, Petersburg, IN

All four ponds rated poor at the plant are significant hazard ponds.

4.  Northern Indiana Public Service Co, R.M. Schahfer Power Station, Wheatfield, IN

The ponds identified as “poor” include two high hazard ponds, six significant hazard ponds, and two low hazard ponds.

A “high hazard” coal ash pond is considered by the EPA to be one “where failure or mis-operation will probably cause loss of human life.”

Indiana fails to require basic safety requirements at any of its 53 coal ash dams. For example:

· Dam Design: Indiana regulations do not require that coal ash ponds be designed by an engineer (only two other states in the US fail to require design by a professional engineer);

· Inspection: Indiana regulations do not require the utility to inspect its coal ash dams. The state inspects coal ash dams infrequently, if at all;

· Reporting: Indiana regulations do not require reporting to the state on the operation of the dams;

· Emergency Response: Indiana regulations do not require emergency action plans that address public safety and emergency response in the event of dam failure;

· Inundation Mapping: Indiana regulations do not require inundation mapping (mapping of the area that would be impacted by a dam break); and

· Financial Assurance: Indiana regulations do not require the power plants to post bonds (financial assurance) to cover damage in the event of the failure

The growing problem of coal-ash dump sites was brought to overnight national attention in December 2008 when an impoundment holding coal ash waste generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority created a massive spill in Kingston, Tennessee, that covered millions of cubic yards of land and river. That event is considered to be one of the worst environmental disasters of its kind in history.

ABOUT THE GROUPS

The Environmental Integrity Project (http://www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in March of 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys to advocate for effective enforcement of environmental laws. EIP has three goals: 1) to provide objective analyses of how the failure to enforce or implement environmental laws increases pollution and affects public health; 2) to hold federal and state agencies, as well as individual corporations, accountable for failing to enforce or comply with environmental laws; and 3) to help local communities obtain the protection of environmental laws.

Earthjustice (http://www.earthjustice.org) is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment.

The Hoosier Environmental Council, founded in 1983, is Indiana`s largest state-wide environmental organization. Over our more than 25 years, the Council succeeded in translating our educational efforts into environmental gains, with forest, groundwater and lake protection as part of its legacy. For more information, go to http://www.hecweb.org.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Leslie Anderson, for Environmental Integrity Project, at (703) 276-3256 or ; and Lisa Evans, for Earthjustice, (781) 631-4119 or ().