#EPA takes issue with Georgia agency’s approval of state utility’s ash disposal plan

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised concerns about Georgia’s state utility’s storage of coal ash in a letter to its state counterpart.

In the letter last week, shared with The Hill, EPA officials expressed concerns with Georgia Power’s plan for disposal of coal ash from a retired plant in Hammond County. Coal-fired power plants prevent the release of waste into the atmosphere through the use of ash ponds, or pits containing ash and water. However, environmentalists have warned such ponds pose a major threat to groundwater. 

Last year, Georgia’s state environmental agency, the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), issued Georgia Power a closure permit for the Hammond County plant. In the Feb. 16 letter, EPA Region Four Acting Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle said the federal agency has concerns about the plan, writing that about a tenth of the ash from the Hammond County pond was in proximity to groundwater at the time of closure. 

The EPD plan “may be less protective than the federal regulations require,” Gettle wrote. EPA officials met with their state counterparts before issuance of the final permit, she wrote, and “believe that the concerns raised in our meetings were not adequately addressed.” 

Local environmental groups expressed dismay at the approval and have called on the EPA to take action.

“This state permit is not worth the paper it’s printed on because ash pond closures cannot comply with the CCR Rule if closed in contact with groundwater, which is the case at Plant Hammond Ash Pond 3,” Chris Bowers, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement last November following the approval. “Leaving toxic coal ash in primitive, unlined pits contaminates groundwater and puts Georgia’s rivers at risk.”

Bowers specifically pointed to the EPA’s August proposal to deny Alabama’s coal ash disposal program for similar reasons.

Coal ash and its byproducts are associated with a number of health hazards, particularly particulate matter, better known as soot. It can also contain other toxins such as lead, mercury and silica.

The Hill has reached out to Georgia Power and the EPD for comment.