1. Senior Campaign Representative Pennsylvania and Maryland
Patrick Grenter
Senior Campaign Representative
Pennsylvania and Maryland
Beyond Coal and Dirty Fuels campaigns
February 22, 2018

3. Coal harms our air, water, land, and health
Photo courtesy of John Blair
Photo courtesy of Megan Anderson

4. Fully controlled coal is uneconomic
Photo from startribune.com

7. Coal Plants
Burning coal produces toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and selenium

9. The Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act requires facilities discharging into navigable waters to obtain permits through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, also known as NPDES
These permits contain various mandates, depending on the type of facility, the receiving waters, and other factors.
These permits are termed for 5 years, after which, a facility must apply for a renewal.
These renewals involve the issuance of a draft permit, which must be noticed publicly and made available for comments.

10. Effluent Limitation Guidelines
In 2015 the Obama administration revised outdated water pollution standards for the power plant industry (known as the Steam Electric Effluent Limitations and Guidelines (ELG) rule), which had not been updated since 1982 and led to the contamination of 23,000 miles of rivers and streams across the country.

11. Effluent Limitation Guidelines
In 2015 the Obama administration revised outdated water pollution standards for the power plant industry (known as the Steam Electric Effluent Limitations and Guidelines (ELG) rule), which had not been updated since 1982 and led to the contamination of 23,000 miles of rivers and streams across the country.
This rule, when implemented, will eliminate 1.4 billion pounds of toxic metals, nutrients, and other harmful pollutants from our water supplies
More than 150,000 comments, overwhelmingly supportive of strong protections for water quality.

12. Effluent Limitation Guidelines
Toxic chemicals in coal plant wastewater such as mercury, lead, selenium, and arsenic can cause cancer and other health problems.
Nearly 35% of all coal plants discharge toxic pollution within 5 miles of a downstream community’s drinking water intake.

13. Effluent Limitation Guidelines
In April, Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt accepted polluter requests to stop this rule, which would have ended the dumping of toxic coal waste.
Sierra Club and others sued to protect this rule, ad we are currently in court. We are very confident that we will prevail and the EPA’s basis for this decision is not based in the law or science.

14. Recent Developments
Coal plant settlement with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
New permit process for those ten key plants, including Montour and Brunner Island
Brunner Island pollution lawsuit and settlement

16. PA Coal Plants with Expired Water Permits

17. Montour Coal Plant

18. Montour Coal Plant Plant has been operating since 1971
MW facility, with two large boilers
Withdraws 36 million gallons of water per day from West Branch of the Susquehanna
Runs with a 32% capacity factor

19. Montour Coal Plant – Key Issues for Permit
ELG Compliance
The draft permit would give Montour 59 months to comply with the ELGs (which, presuming timely permit issuance, roughly means giving Montour until the end of 2023 to stop discharging so much mercury, arsenic, and selenium).   Thermal Pollution
Despite having cooling towers, Montour still manages to discharge enough heated wastewater to violate water quality standards. Entrainment/Impingement
Aquatic life is killed by being entrained (sucked into a plant’s cooling system) or impinged (slammed against the grates that prevent things from getting sucked into the plant’s cooling system).

20. Montour Coal Plant Permit open for public comment now
Send comments to Maria Schumack at PA DEP:  
Comments due on Monday, February 26
Public Hearing?

21. Brunner Island Pollution Lawsuit
Identified many air and water pollution issues at the plant
Negotiated a settlement
No coal during ozone season in 2023
No coal at all by 2028
Carbon limits and NOx limits

22. Contact
Patrick Grenter