ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Today, a coalition of
environmental and clean water groups, including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice
and Clean Water Action, released a new report demonstrating the
importance of strong U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards that
limit toxic water pollution from coal plants for Florida. The report, “Closing
the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry Is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can
Stop It” reviewed water permits for 386 coal plants across the country, and
sought to identify whether states have upheld the Clean Water Act by
effectively protecting families from toxic water pollution.
As the analysis
relates to Florida:
- At least seven
plants discharge heavy metals into the waters of Florida. No plant in
Florida has permit limits on all of the toxic metals of concern, such as
arsenic, boron, cadmium, mercury, and selenium.
- Rice Creek has
become an impaired waterway because of pollution from the Seminole
Generating Station in Putnam County. Now, instead of addressing
concerns about toxic metals in its discharge, the Seminole Generating
Station directly discharges into the St. Johns River.
- Alligator Bayou
is impaired by pollution coming from Gulf Power’s Lansing Smith coal
plant, which dumps mercury and arsenic without limits.
- Florida
does not ensure that the permit limits it does have are stringent enough
to protect our water.
“This
report makes it clear that Florida utilities need a lesson in common sense:
dumping poisons into our water without disclosing threatens health, drinking
water and recreation opportunities,” said Julia Hathaway, Florida Sierra Club
Beyond Coal organizer. “Environmental Protection Agency limits on these toxics
in our water will prevent children from getting sick and save lives.”
Existing guidelines
written to limit toxics discharged from coal plants do not cover many of the
worst pollutants such as in 2011 when the Big Bend Power Station in
Hillsborough County discharged 1206 lbs of selenium into the Big Bend Bayou.
These guidelines have not been updated in 30 years. In April 2013 the
Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first ever national standards for
toxics dumped into waterways from coal plants.
The Sierra Club’s
Florida Beyond Coal campaign and Clean Water Action are organizing to support
the strongest options for these “effluent limitation guidelines” that will
limit the amount of toxic chemicals that are dumped into our waterways.
These standards will also require all coal plants to monitor and report
the amount of toxics dumped into our water, giving us detailed information for
the first time about the types and amounts of dangerous chemicals in our water.
“Limiting the amount
of toxics in our water through commonsense standards will strengthen our
economy, protect our health, and ensure our water is safe to drink and our fish
are safe to eat,” said Kathleen Aterno, Florida Director of Clean Water Action.
“There is technology
available to keep toxins from coal plants out of our water, and we should
simply insist that these corporations use it,” added Bradley Marshall, attorney
with Earthjustice.
The new report’s
nationwide findings were similarly shocking:
- Of the 274 coal
plants that discharge coal ash and scrubber wastewater into waterways, nearly
70 percent (188) have no limits on the amounts of toxic metals like
arsenic, boron, cadmium, mercury, and selenium they are allowed to dump
into public waters.
- Of these 274
coal plants, more than one-third (102) have no requirements to monitor
or report discharges of toxic metals like arsenic, boron, cadmium,
mercury, and selenium to federal authorities.
- A total of 71
coal plants discharge toxic water pollution into waterways that have
already been declared as impaired. Of these plants that are dumping
toxic metals into impaired waterways, nearly three out of four coal
plants (59) had no permit that limited the amount of toxic metals it
could dump.
- More than half
of the coal plants surveyed (187) are operating with an expired Clean
Water Act permit. 53 of these power plants are operating with permits
that expired five or more years ago.
The new report also
reviewed red-line copies of the EPA’s proposed coal plant water pollution
standards or “effluent limitation guidelines” obtained through Freedom of
Information Act requests, finding that the White House’s Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) caved to coal industry pressure and took the highly unusual
and improper step of writing new weak options into the draft guidelines
prepared by the EPA’s expert staff.
The seven coal plants include:
- Tampa Electric Company's Big Bend plant in Hillsborough County
- Gulf Power Company's Crist electric generating plant in Escambia County
- Gulf Power Company's Lansing Smith generating plant in Bay County
- Tampa Electric Company's Polk plant in Polk County
- Gulf Power Company's Scholz Electric generating plant in Jackson County
- Seminole Electric Cooperative's Seminole plant in Putnam County
- Jacksonville Electric Authority's St. Johns River power plant in Duval County
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