Reliant uses a system that removes hazardous air pollutants from its smokestack emissions and discharges the pollutants with its wastewater into the Conemaugh River. Photo: Theresa Labriola

Pittsburgh, PA—On April 10, 2007, NELC attorneys filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in Pittsburgh against Reliant Energy, the multi-billion dollar energy company that owns and operates a coal-burning power plant on the banks of the Conemaugh River in West Wheatfield, Pa.

Representing PennEnvironment and Sierra Club, NELC is suing Reliant for persistent violations of the federal Clean Water Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law.

The suit charges that Reliant Energy is discharging illegal levels of toxic metals, including selenium and boron, into the Conemaugh River.

The charges are supported by the company’s own monitoring reports. Our complaint details over 200 violations of the company’s Clean Water Act permit occurring over the past two years. It also alleges that Reliant is failing to properly monitor its mercury discharges. The company does not use a sufficiently sensitive analytical test for detecting mercury in its wastewater, making it impossible to tell whether Reliant is discharging more mercury than is allowed by its permit.

The Reliant plant discharges, on average, more than 3.5 million gallons of wastewater into the Conemaugh River every day. The highest concentrations of metals come from the plant’s air pollution control system, which contributes mercury and selenium to the wastewater, and from the plant’s large cooling towers, which add a number of other metals, including aluminum, manganese and iron.

Although the discharge of these metals would be a concern for most water bodies, it is of particular concern for the Conemaugh River.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has identified the Conemaugh as an “impaired” waterway precisely because of high concentrations of metals.

Yet DEP agreed in 2004 to allow Reliant to continue its illegal discharge of metals to the river essentially unabated. In the agreement, the agency pledged to waive enforcement of the applicable discharge limits for metals for years into the future.

Fortunately, this side agreement, brokered without public participation, does not absolve Reliant of its Clean Water Act responsibilities—nor does it preclude NELC’s citizen suit.

“DEP may not alter the terms of Reliant’s Clean Water Act discharge permit without following specified public procedures,” noted NELC attorney Theresa Labriola. “And any attempt to substantially weaken the permit’s limits for metals,” she explained, “would run afoul of the Act’s requirement that water quality standards be maintained.”

Attaining and maintaining water quality standards for metals—which will happen only if the overall discharge of metals is reduced—will be essential to the river’s continued recovery. Some of the metals discharged by Reliant are especially problematic.

Dissolved aluminum is toxic to many aquatic organisms, including fish. Striped bass and brook trout, both of which are found in the Conemaugh, are especially sensitive to the toxic effects of aluminum. The wood ducks and mallards that frequent the river are also at risk. Manganese can be acutely toxic to certain aquatic species even at low levels.

Boron and selenium can accumulate in aquatic plants and invertebrates consumed by waterfowl. Boron can adversely affect duckling growth and reproduction.

At concentrations as low as 3 to 8 parts per billion in water, selenium can cause numerous life-threatening changes in freshwater fish, including reduced survival of larval offspring and juveniles.

Reliant’s effluent regularly contains selenium at concentrations higher than 250 parts per billion. Selenium can also have reproductive effects on waterfowl.

The Conemaugh River begins in Johnstown, Pa., at the confluence of the Stoneycreek and Little Conemaugh Rivers, and winds through the western Pennsylvania mountains for 70 miles before joining the Kiskiminetas River.

The Conemaugh is slowly recovering from years of industrial pollution and acid mine drainage. Diverse species of fish and wildlife are returning to the river, including herons, bald eagles and otters.

The Conemaugh also supports a growing recreational community of kayakers, canoers and fishermen. The continued presence of excessive metals, however, will pose a threat to the healthy re-emergence of the river’s natural ecosystem.

NELC’s lawsuit against Reliant Energy will seek to reduce that threat by encouraging the company to implement the production or control technology necessary to significantly lessen the concentration of metals in its wastewater.