Monday, June 29, 2009, 2:35pm EDT Modified: Monday, June 29, 2009, 2:36pmby Vandana Sinha Staff Reporter
Four Maryland residents and an environmental nonprofit are suing Mirant Mid-Atlantic LLC, which operates a southern Prince George’s County power plant, claiming that the plant fails to adequately control the amount of harmful pollutants it releases in the air.
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, claims that the Chalk Point Generating Plant operated by Atlanta-based Mirant Mid-Atlantic has spewed unacceptable levels of sulfur dioxide into the air hundreds of times without the appropriate pollution controls required under the federal Clean Air Act.
A Mirant spokeswoman said the company hasn’t been served with the lawsuit yet, and can’t comment on the claims.
The Environmental Integrity Project, a legal nonprofit founded by former Environmental Protection Agency enforcement attorneys, and Villari, Brandes and Kline have filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and four residents, including a married couple, Nancy and Norton Dodge, who live seven miles away from the plant on a 1,200-acre farm in Mechanicsville.
The Dodges “need to close windows, limit their time outdoors and/or cover their faces when they are outdoors to avoid the respiratory irritants and smell of the pollution from the Chalk Point Power Plant,” the lawsuit reads.
Of the other two residents suing Mirant, David Bookbinder lives in Accokeek, about 30 miles from the plant, and Chris Schmitthenner lives in Mechanicsville, 11 miles away, and works five miles from the plant. The Environmental Integrity Project had sent Mirant a letter in January notifying of its intent to sue the power company this year.
The plaintiffs pointed to a Harvard University 2006 study that showed that such particulate matter pollution from the Chalk Point plant can have negative effects on the health and respiratory systems of people living in a 400-kilometer, or nearly 250-mile, radius of the plant.
In their initial notification letter, the plaintiffs wrote that EPA hourly data shows that two boilers at the Chalk Point plant exceeded allowable levels of sulfur dioxide emissions 591 times in 2006, 726 times in 2007 and 113 times in 2008.
Mirant has said it’s launched a $1.6 billion project to install scrubbers and other pollution-reducing equipment on its Chalk Point boilers by the beginning of 2010.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/06/29/daily15.html
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, claims that the Chalk Point Generating Plant operated by Atlanta-based Mirant Mid-Atlantic has spewed unacceptable levels of sulfur dioxide into the air hundreds of times without the appropriate pollution controls required under the federal Clean Air Act.
A Mirant spokeswoman said the company hasn’t been served with the lawsuit yet, and can’t comment on the claims.
The Environmental Integrity Project, a legal nonprofit founded by former Environmental Protection Agency enforcement attorneys, and Villari, Brandes and Kline have filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and four residents, including a married couple, Nancy and Norton Dodge, who live seven miles away from the plant on a 1,200-acre farm in Mechanicsville.
The Dodges “need to close windows, limit their time outdoors and/or cover their faces when they are outdoors to avoid the respiratory irritants and smell of the pollution from the Chalk Point Power Plant,” the lawsuit reads.
Of the other two residents suing Mirant, David Bookbinder lives in Accokeek, about 30 miles from the plant, and Chris Schmitthenner lives in Mechanicsville, 11 miles away, and works five miles from the plant. The Environmental Integrity Project had sent Mirant a letter in January notifying of its intent to sue the power company this year.
The plaintiffs pointed to a Harvard University 2006 study that showed that such particulate matter pollution from the Chalk Point plant can have negative effects on the health and respiratory systems of people living in a 400-kilometer, or nearly 250-mile, radius of the plant.
In their initial notification letter, the plaintiffs wrote that EPA hourly data shows that two boilers at the Chalk Point plant exceeded allowable levels of sulfur dioxide emissions 591 times in 2006, 726 times in 2007 and 113 times in 2008.
Mirant has said it’s launched a $1.6 billion project to install scrubbers and other pollution-reducing equipment on its Chalk Point boilers by the beginning of 2010.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/06/29/daily15.html
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