Groups sue Mirant Mid-Atlantic over nuclear power plant

Monday, June 29, 2009, 2:35pm EDT Modified: Monday, June 29, 2009, 2:36pm
by 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

Canada's 'toxic secret' soon to be made public

Canada allows the corporations to dump the tailings of any type plus uranium in lakes without the knowledge of the pollutants! Remember, Corporations dictate to the Federal and State government! Therefore, if the Canadian company comes to Virginia, they will do what they please and it will be legal!

Last Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009 12:27 PM MT
CBC News

Environmental groups have long called the tailings lakes in the Alberta oilsands Canada's toxic secret, but companies operating there will soon be required to disclose exactly what pollutants are there.

In April, a federal court ordered Ottawa to make the mining industry release a complete inventory of what material they release into the environment. Now companies in the oilsands will also have to comply, CBC News has learned.

"It'll be the first time that Canadians have actually known what is in these tailings facilities and the extent of the pollution that these companies are producing," said Justin Duncan, a lawyer for the environmental groups that took the federal government to court on the issue and won.

Environment Canada has confirmed the lakes of sludge produced in the Alberta oilsands also fall under the ruling.

The pollution data will be ammunition for critics like David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta.

"The magnitude of the numbers is going to really shock people," Schindler said. "It's huge compared to any other mining development anywhere on the planet."

The contents of tailings lakes have not been kept secret, insists Alberta's Environment Minister Rob Renner.

"It certainly will improve transparency, and anything that can improve transparency is fine with me," Renner said Wednesday.

The court ruling forces mining companies to provide pollution data going back to 2006. By law, the information must be stored in an online database that the public will be able to see simply by typing in a postal code. For example, people living in Fort Chipewyan, in northern Alberta, will be able to type in their postal code and learn what kinds of pollutants are in their area.

There is no timeline for when the information will be available online, but it is expected to be in the next few months, Duncan said.

The Mining Association of Canada is worried about how the new pollution numbers will be interpreted by the public, Justyna Laurie-Lean, vice president environment and health, said Wednesday.

"The Mining Association of Canada maintains reporting mining pollution and tailings output shouldn't be taken at face value, because some materials deemed toxic are naturally occurring," Laurie-Lean said. "So excavating dirt would be considered creating pollution."

For that reason the association wants a separate reporting mechanism for mining and the oilsands.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/06/18/edmonton-oilsands-tailings.html