ATLANTA – Georgia Power announced plans Wednesday to recycle more than 9 million tons of coal ash stored at Plant Bowen at a pace of about 600,000 tons per year.
The largest beneficial use project for coal ash in the nation will excavate ash from the plant near Cartersville and convert it into concrete for constructing roads, bridges and buildings across Georgia and the Southeast.
“Finding and securing these opportunities to beneficially use coal ash will not only reduce and save space in landfills,” said Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power’s vice president of environmental affairs. “[It] will also serve as a financial tool to help offset the cost of ash pond closures for our customers.”
Georgia Power is spending $9 billion on a multi-year plan to close all 29 of its ash ponds at 11 coal-burning power plants across the state. While ash is be excavated and removed from 19 of the ponds, the other 10 are scheduled to be closed in place.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The future of Plant Bowen is uncertain. Two of the plant’s four coal-burning units were due to be retired by 2028 under a proposal Georgia Power submitted to the state Public Service Commission (PSC) last January.
But an agreement the Atlanta-based utility reached with the PSC’s Public Interest Advocacy Staff this month would leave that decision up to the commission.
The PSC will vote next month on the agreement as part of Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), an update the utility provides every three years on the mix of energy sources it will rely upon for the next 20 years to meet the needs of its customers.
The decision on whether to close the two units at Plant Bowen by 2028 or wait until a future date likely won’t affect the viability of the beneficial reuse project, said Bobby Baker, an energy lawyer representing Atlanta-based sustainability nonprofit Southface Institute in the IRP case.
“There’s sufficient coal ash on site right now to provide adequate supply for several years for their program,” he said.
“The coal ash at Bowen can be reused regardless of whether or not the power plant itself retires,” added Charline Whyte, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Georgia.
“It would be a huge mistake to view the plant as a coal ash factory when the power it produces is costing customers millions in excess costs and still pollutes air and water.”
Utah-based Eco Materials Technologies, the nation’s leading producer of sustainable cement alternatives, will manage the project at Plant Bowen for Georgia Power.
“As the largest partnership of its kind in the U.S., this project will not only use material from landfills and ash ponds, but also keep millions of tons of [carbon dioxide] from going into the atmosphere,” said Grant Quasha, Eco Materials Technologies’ CEO.
“The harvested material will be used in concrete to make stronger and longer-lasting bridges and roads and serve as a model for helping forward-thinking utilities like Georgia Power and [parent] Southern Company close landfills and ash ponds while building a greener and more sustainable planet.”
The installation of infrastructure necessary for the work at Plant Bowen will begin immediately, with ash removal expected to begin by 2024.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Power’s plan to close in place some of its coal ash ponds violates a federal rule prohibiting ash to be in contact with groundwater, an environmental consultant said this week.
Mark Quarles, a senior consultant with Chicago-based BBJ Group, testified before the Georgia Public Commission (PSC) during three days of hearings on a plan the utility submitted in January outlining the mix of energy sources it intends to rely on for power generation during the next 20 years.
Georgia Power’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which is updated every three years, calls for the company to continue phasing out its fleet of coal-burning plants and step up its investment in natural gas and renewable energy.
With the coal plants being retired, the utility plans to spend $9 billion to close all 29 of its ash ponds at 11 coal-burning power plants across Georgia. While ash is be excavated and removed from 19 of the ponds, the other 10 are scheduled to be closed in place.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in January it intends to enforce a 2015 rule prohibiting utilities from dumping ash generated by coal-burning power plants into unlined ponds.
Any pond closures that allow coal ash to be in contact with groundwater violate the federal rule, Quarles testified Thursday.
“Groundwater contamination is common and widespread at [Georgia Power] disposal areas,” he said. “The company commonly built large unlined impoundments in streams.”
Specifically, Quarles cited a 343-acre pond at Plant Wansley in Heard County, which he said contains more than 16 million cubic yards of waste. Another 550-acre pond at Plant Scherer in Monroe County contains more than 15 million cubic yards of waste, he said.
“Improper closures by the company create significant risk to ratepayers and create unnecessary costs for the company,” he said.
Quarles said Georgia Power to its credit decided recently to excavate and remove ash from one of the ponds at Plant Wansley. He said that should serve as a model for other ash ponds.
Brandon Marzo, a lawyer representing Georgia Power at this week’s hearings, said the PSC approved the utility’s plan for closing ash ponds as part of its 2019 IRP.
Under both federal and state rules, closing ponds in place is considered equally protective as excavating and removing the ash, he said.
Marzo also cited a document prepared by the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) asserting that closing ponds in place in unstable areas is permissible “if recognized and generally accepted engineering practices have been incorporated.”
The Georgia Power lawyer noted the EPD already has approved such a closure plan for an ash pond at Plant Bowen near Cartersville, where a foundation improvement plan was developed to prevent leakage.
But Quarles said the closure plan for Plant Bowen, site of the largest Georgia Power’s largest ash pond, is unique among the utility’s ponds.
Marzo also argued the description Quarles gave of the ash ponds at plants Wansley and Scherer does not represent the most recent information about those sites furnished by the EPD.
“It’s not what the ponds would look like after closure in place is completed,” he said.
The PSC will vote on Georgia Power’s 2022 IRP this summer.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Three Georgia environmental groups are asking an appellate court to let them intervene in a legal effort by a coalition of utilities including Atlanta-based Southern Co. to block a federal crackdown on coal ash ponds.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) has filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to give intervenor status to the Altamaha Riverkeeper, the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Coosa River Basin Initiative.
The Utilities Solid Waste Activities Group acted after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in January it intends to enforce a 2015 rule prohibiting utilities from dumping ash generated by coal-burning power plants into unlined ponds. The Trump administration had backed away from enforcing the rule.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The EPA warned it would require utilities to “control, minimize or eliminate” contamination of groundwater from coal ash ponds. At that time, the agency rejected four ash pond closure plans submitted by utilities in the Northeast and Midwest.
The EPA then sent a letter asking the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to review pending coal ash pond closure permits to determine whether they need to be modified or reissued.
Southern subsidiary Georgia Power is in the process of spending an estimated $9 billion to close all 29 of its ash ponds at 11 plants across the state, a $9 billion investment. While the Atlanta-based utility’s plan calls for excavating and removing the ash from 19 of those ponds, the other 10 are to be closed in place.
An executive with Georgia Power disclosed last month that ash from four of those 10 ponds – at Plant Hammond near Rome, Plant McDonough south of Vinings, Plant Yates near Newnan and Plant Scherer near Macon – will continue to be exposed to groundwater after the closures are completed.
“It is long past time that Georgia Power’s risky, leaking coal ash lagoons are cleaned up and that Georgia’s rivers and communities are protected from this threat,” Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the SELC, said Friday. “By intervening, the groups that protect the Altamaha, Chattahoochee and Coosa rivers will be able to speak up for their rivers and the people who depend upon them.”
Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power’s director of environmental affairs, told members of the state Public Service Commission during hearings last month the EPA has declared acceptable the utility’s plans to close its ash ponds – both those to be excavated and those to be closed in place.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Four coal ash ponds Georgia Power plans to close in place will continue to expose ash to groundwater after the closures are completed, an executive with the utility disclosed this week.
Ash ponds at Plant Hammond near Rome, Plant McDonough south of Vinings, Plant Yates near Newnan and Plant Scherer near Macon are among 10 ash ponds Georgia Power plans to close in place by 2028. Ash from the utility’s other 19 ponds at coal plants across Georgia will be closed by excavating and removing the ash.
Aaron Mitchell, Georgia Power’s director of environmental affairs, testified on the second of two days of hearings before the state Public Service Commission (PSC) on a plan the utility submitted in January outlining the mix of energy sources it intends to rely on for power generation during the next 20 years.
Georgia Power’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) calls for the company to continue phasing out its fleet of coal-burning plants and stepping up its investment in natural gas and renewable energy. With the coal plants being retired, the utility plans to spend $9 billion to close all 29 of its coal ash ponds.
Coal ash contains contaminants including mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute groundwater and drinking water as well as air.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put utilities on notice in January that it would require them to “control, minimize or eliminate” contamination of groundwater from ash ponds. At that time, the EPA rejected four ash pond closure plans submitted by utilities in the Northeast and Midwest.
After its announcement, the EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery sent a letter asking the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to review pending coal ash pond closure permits to determine whether they need to be modified or reissued.
While excavating and removing coal ash from ponds would make sure no groundwater contamination occurs, Mitchell testified the EPA has declared both removal and closure in place are acceptable.
“EPA has said both methods are equally as protective of the environment if the performance standards are complied with,” he said. “We believe our designs are compliant.”
The EPD issued a preliminary permit last year for closing the ash pond at Plant Hammond. Environmental groups and nearby residents have protested because some of the ash is sitting in groundwater.
Also, a 2020 lawsuit by Juliette residents against Georgia Power associated with groundwater contamination in the vicinity of Plant Scherer remains pending.
Georgia Power plans to offset some of the costs of closing the ponds by selling recovered ash for use in building materials, although some investment will be required for the infrastructure needed to update the ash to construction standards.
Mitchell said initially only about 10% of the ash will be recovered for “beneficial use.” Ultimately, however, the “vast majority” of the ash will be used, subject to market demand,” he said.
“The larger impact and larger value are from the reduction in the amount of ash and the value of the ash we actually have to close,” he said. “The benefits more than pay for themselves in the long term.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Biden administration is cracking down on the disposal of coal ash generated by power plants in Georgia and other states.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week it intends to enforce a 2015 rule prohibiting utilities from dumping coal ash into unlined ponds.
Georgia Power is in the process of closing all 29 of its ash ponds at 11 plants across the state, a $9 billion investment. While the Atlanta-based utility’s plan calls for excavating and removing the ash from 19 of those ponds, the other 10 are to be closed in place.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) issued a proposed permit last year for an unlined coal ash pond at Georgia Power’s Plant Hammond near Rome. Environmental groups and nearby residents have protested, claiming some of the ash is sitting in groundwater.
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) welcomed the EPA’s announcement.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stepped up to offer communities hope and to protect clean water, rivers and drinking water supplies from the threats posed by coal ash,” said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the SELC.
“With EPA’s leadership, we now have the opportunity to put coal ash pollution and catastrophes behind us and to restore common-sense protections for communities across the South that have lived with coal ash contamination for far too long.”
The EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery sent a letter Tuesday asking Georgia EPD Director Rick Dunn to review pending coal ash pond closure permits to determine whether they need to be modified or reissued in light of the EPA’s announcement.
The federal agency suggested a meeting with EPD later this month to discuss the results of the review.
Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft said the utility is committed to closing all of its ash ponds safely.
“We are evaluating EPA’s position as announced Tuesday and we will continue to work with them, as well as Georgia EPD, to safely close our ash ponds,” he said. “We remain committed to compliance with all environmental regulations and ensuring that our closure plans are protective of the environment and the surrounding communities.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
