By Charlie Garlow, Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Society and
DE Sierra Club, Sussex Section

According to a study released last month by the Environmental Integrity Project, 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants. One of the power plants cited in the study was Delaware’s Indian River Power Plant.

The Environmental Integrity Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog group that advocates for effective enforcement of our environmental laws. It is composed of former EPA enforcement attorneys, public interest lawyers, analysts, and investigators. The group received assistance from the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and others in compiling the data for this report.

The source of the contamination is coal ash, the waste product of coal combustion. Coal contains a long list of toxic chemicals, including carcinogenic and neurotoxic metals such arsenic and mercury and multiple chemicals that are harmful to aquatic life. When coal is burned to produce electricity, these toxic chemicals become concentrated in the solid waste left behind – coal ash. 

Coal ash is frequently stored in large pits in the ground. At Indian River, two pits are currently sequestering the plant’s ash, one lined and capped to prevent seepage of the toxic wastes and the other unlined. An Obama-era rule has required plant owners to drill wells to monitor the leakage of these coal ash pits, and this report represents the first largescale compilation of data from these monitoring wells.

The data came from over 4,600 groundwater monitoring wells located around the ash dumps of 265 coal-fired power plants, which is roughly three-quarters of the coal power plants across the U.S. Many of the coal ash waste ponds are poorly and unsafely designed, with less than 5 percent having waterproof liners to prevent contaminants from leaking into the groundwater, and 59 percent built beneath the water table or within five feet of it.

“At a time when the Trump EPA – now being run by a former coal lobbyist – is trying to roll back federal regulations on coal ash, these new data provide convincing evidence that we should be moving in the opposite direction: toward stronger protections for human health and the environment,” said Abel Russ, the lead author of the report and attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project in the group’s press release.

While the Indian River location was not included in the report’s “10 worst list,” it was cited for unsafe levels of a number of pollutants including arsenic, beryllium, boron, cobalt, lithium, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, and sulfate. These pollutants are seeping into groundwater and also pose a risk from storm-related flooding due to the pit’s low-lying location near the Indian River inlet.

The Sierra Club has campaigned for years to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, which contribute to global climate change. This "Beyond Coal" campaign has been very successful, resulting in the shutdown of hundreds of coal-fired plants in the U.S., including three in Delaware.

Coal combustion contributes to air pollution, including particulates and smog that result in health consequences for those who breathe these toxic irritants, ranging from asthma to lung cancer. Coal mining also results in water pollution at the mine site. This report now exposes how using coal for energy also contributes to water pollution near the site of combustion, potentially contaminating drinking water and aquatic habitats. 

Delaware needs clean, drinkable water. The Delaware Sierra Club calls on NRG Energy, Inc., the owner of the Indian River Power Plant, to close the last remnants of the plant and clean up its coal ash waste. We encourage the use of clean, renewable energy, such as wind and solar, to meet the energy needs of Delawareans.