May 2, 2014 – by Jimmy Jenkins, WTIU News

This is part one of a two-part series on coal ash ponds in Indiana. Part 2 is now available at: http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/coal-ash-ponds-pose-contamination-risk-drinking-water-66894/

In the neighborhood of East Mt. Carmel, residents like to live a simple country life.

They fish in the nearby Wabash River, they get around on their dirt bikes and ATVs and go to church.

But several years ago the quality of life here was threatened. East Mt Carmel is located just across the street from the third largest coal-fired power plant in the world.

The Gibson Duke plant burns approximately 8 million tons of coal each year.

What Coal Ash Is And How It’s Regulated

There are many byproducts but coal ash or fly ash has the most potential for contamination.

“This is generated in what we call a pulverized coal burner which takes very small particles of coal, burns them at high temperature, typically over 1,100 degrees Celsius,” says Tracy Branam, a geochemist with the Indiana Geological Survey, says as he holds a glass container filled with fly ash.

Duke stores more of it at this plant than any other place in the state: almost 17 million tons, and that figure doesn’t include other ash stored on site, including ash in landfills and structural fills

One of the most common ways is simply to dig a large pit and store it on the power plant site.

And sometimes water is added to the ash so it can be moved around through pipes and stored in ponds. There are 74  of these ponds in Indiana, which is more than any other state in the country.

They can dwarf the size of other man-made reservoirs, but unlike typical landfills, they’re almost entirely unregulated.

They don’t have to be lined like municipal waste landfills so the ash can and does leach into the surrounding area and water table.

In most cases, power plant owners are supposed to get a permit from the Department of Natural Resources if they want to build a coal ash pond on their property.

But the reality is that rarely happens.

“Some of the dams in the state in the ash ponds have gone through our permit process. I would say the majority of them have not,” says Kenneth Smith, the assistant director with the DNR’s water division. “Some are inspected that we had been aware of through going through the permit process. There are likely others out there that should have gone through the process but didn’t.”

When asked why the companies haven’t gone through the process, Smith said the companies’ officials would have to answer that.

“Why they would do that I don’t know,” he said.

Smith says a recent survey from the EPA showed several  power companies had built coal ash ponds without seeking a permit.

“There were many on that list that were ones that were not in our inspection program they had never gone through our permit process,” Smith says. Continue reading →

May 1, 2014-by Paul Chesser in the National Legal and Policy Center. Editor’s note: Valley Watch has been an intervener in every one of what is now thirteen “dockets” before the IURC regarding this plant. 

After the global warming-battlingEdwardsport coal gasification power plantused more power than it generated during the September-to-November timeframe, earlier this month information filed with the IndianaUtility Regulatory Commission showed theDuke Energy facility operated at less than 1 percent of capacity in February.

As Duke wants to recover $1.5 million in costs related to the plant, the state office that advocates for its customers – the Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor – wants IURC to more closely scrutinize why Edwardsport’s operation has been such a miserable failure. The much-delayed and fought-over plant had a $1.4 billion cost overrun and as a result is adding an average 16 percent increase to Hoosier State customers’ electric bills.

“The ratepayers of Duke Energy should not be mandated to bear the risks and most of the costs of this boondoggle,” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of Citizens Action Coalition, to the Indianapolis Star. Olson’s organization has been a longtime critic of Duke Energy and the Edwardsport project specifically.

Duke has argued that it would need 15 months for the plant to become fully operational. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, after the three-month blunder late last year, power production “slowed to a crawl” in January due to mechanical problems. The company claimed it moved up planned routine maintenance to February, which extended its period of diminished activity.

“It’s a large, complex project, and it has taken time to work out technical issues,” said Duke spokeswoman Angeline Protogere to the IBJ.

For the customers there is a huge difference between attaching the cost of Edwardsport’s “issues” to its initial construction costs vs. charging for ongoing maintenance. A settlement limited the costs of the build-up of the plant for customers to $2.6 billion, while Duke’s shareholders are responsible for $900 million. But now that Edwardsport is officially “online,” critics fear that repairs and maintenance that should be charged against the original design of the plant, will instead be added as new costs for customers under ongoing upkeep.

Those representing the grassroots of Indiana don’t appear to want to cut Duke any slack. Olson has been unrelenting, and in early 2012 the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor sharply criticized the utility as “a company that, through arrogance or incompetence, has unnecessarily cost ratepayers millions of dollars and has set back the public’s trust in our regulatory process.” An OUCC official testified, “There appears to be a lack of responsibility or accountability on the part of those causing these multimillion-dollar cost overruns.” Continue reading →

April 29, 2013- by John Blair, valley watch.net editor

Today, in 6-2 decision and an opinion written by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the US Supreme Court gave EPA the go ahead to implement the conditions of its Cross State Air Pollution Rule and that is good news for the tri-state region of Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.Under the Cross State Air Pollution Rule or CSAPR as it is known, 28 states covering most of the east except for New England are required to create a new State Implementation Plan or SIP that calls for reduced pollution of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide mostly from more than 1000 coal fired power plants that generate electricity.

It is unclear just how the CSAPR rule will affect the massive Rockport power plant since it’s owner, American Electric Power recently signed a consent decree allowing it to avoid placing scrubbers on that facility until 2028. Graphic ©2013 BlairPhotoEVV

The rule was originally designed to force “upwind” states to reduce their pollution to the point that “downwind” states can achieve the health based National Ambient Air Quality Standards for both ozone and fine particles.

Valley Watch has long fought for cleaner, safer air in the tri-state community and we applaud the fact that we can now move forward with implementation of CSAPR. It will be interesting to see just how much air quality improves over the next few years as increasing numbers of coal plants are mothballed or retired due to this and other rules, including one on air toxics that are going to be implemented.

March 25, 2014-New Release from the World Health Organization

In new estimates released today, WHO reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.

New estimates

In particular, the new data reveal a stronger link between both indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure and cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as between air pollution and cancer. This is in addition to air pollution’s role in the development of respiratory diseases, including acute respiratory infections and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.

The new estimates are not only based on more knowledge about the diseases caused by air pollution, but also upon better assessment of human exposure to air pollutants through the use of improved measurements and technology. This has enabled scientists to make a more detailed analysis of health risks from a wider demographic spread that now includes rural as well as urban areas.

Regionally, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest air pollution-related burden in 2012, with a total of 3.3 million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution.

“Cleaning up the air we breathe prevents noncommunicable diseases as well as reduces disease risks among women and vulnerable groups, including children and the elderly,” says Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General Family, Women and Children’s Health. “Poor women and children pay a heavy price from indoor air pollution since they spend more time at home breathing in smoke and soot from leaky coal and wood cook stoves.” (continue reading)

March 17, 2014- By Kari Lydersen in Midwest Energy News

A bill before Indiana Governor Mike Pence could end a state efficiency program that has led to significant energy savings in the past two years.

Clean energy and environmental groups, along with some major companies, are pleading with Pence to veto the bill, saying it would mean higher energy bills and jobs lost as demand drops for products from light bulbs to efficient appliances.

Advocates say the state’s efficiency program, Energizing Indiana, is a “win-win-win situation” for companies, consumers and the environment. The program was created by a December 2009 order from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and was implemented in 2012.

The bill passed by lawmakers this year actually started as a much narrower provision that would have allowed large industrial users to opt out of the energy efficiency program. Large manufacturers like steel mills have paid millions of dollars to support the efficiency program, while typical households are paying an extra $2 or $3 a month.

The program includes free energy audits, weatherization for low-income households, subsidies for residential lighting products, heating and cooling retrofits at schools, education about energy efficiency, and rebates for commercial and industrial retrofits. Six utilities are covered by the program, which resulted in a savings of more than 416 million kWh in 2012.

The original bill was introduced in January by state Sen. Jim Merritt (R-Indianapolis) and passed in early February. Then in the House, Rep. Heath VanNatter (R-Kokomo) introduced a floor amendment that greatly altered the bill so that it would terminate the entire efficiency program in December. The amended bill says the utility regulatory commission cannot “extend, renew, or require the establishment of an energy efficiency program” under the 2009 order. It says utilities can continue to recover costs related to their compliance with the order.

The amended bill passed the House on Feb. 26 and then the Senate on March 10, with a vote of 37-8. At the time this story was published it had not yet reached Pence’s desk. Once the governor has the bill, he has seven calendar days to sign or veto it. (See when SB 340 lands on the Pence’s desk here.) If the governor takes no action, the bill becomes law.

That “would be devastating, it would kill efficiency in our state as we know it,” said Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Council.

A good investment?

Is winter about over? We sure hope so and one thing that always gives us that hope is the emergence of crocus in the Valley Watch garden. Two bloomed today, one yellow and one white.

February 13, 12014- by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor. 

This picture was shot today (2/13/14) at approximately 10 AM. I was shot from the river bank looking almost due east toward downtown Evansville. It shows little detail of the downtown since Evansville has found itself in an air pollution quagmire for several days but with levels of fine particles reaching “unhealthy” levels today. Photo © 2014 BlairPhotoEVV.

For several days now, Evansville air quality has suffered significantly from high levels of fine particles. Today, they reached levels considered “unhealthy” exceeding the current 24 hour federal standard of 35µg/m3 for several hours at the time this was written. See screen shot of the data from the near real time website (http://idem.tx.sutron.com/cgi-bin/daily_summary.pl) operated by IDEM below.

I have been following this development for several days, now. It seems the first time the level exceeded the 24 hour standard for a single hour was at midnight on Sunday, February 9. From a  personal standpoint, that date was significant to me because that was the day that my wife came down with a respiratory problem which was diagnosed yesterday as pneumonia. Of course, no one can say with certainty that a single diagnosis was directly caused by a single air pollution event.

However, the problem here is that here we are in the fifth day of significant pollution problems and as been the case in the past, neither IDEM or the local air pollution agency has issued any sort of alert. Now, as I write this the data clearly shows unhealthy levels but still no alert has been issued at this hour (just after 11 AM).

While the closure of several coal plants in the region is currently in the works, it is clear we have a long way to go before the air in Evansville can be considered safe. Valley Watch encourages people who have noticed breathing or respiratory irritation over the last few days to contact their elected and bureaucratic officials at EVERY level to complain that you are tired of being treated as second class citizens and forced to breathe foul, unhealthy air.

February, 5, 2014- by GoPro and Felix Baumgartner. Editors Note: It is not our common practice to commercialize what we place on valleywatch.net but this video is a must see for people who appreciate the Earth and its physical properties like gravity.

Published on Jan 31, 2014
October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner ascended more than 24 miles above Earth’s surface to the edge of space in a stratospheric balloon. Millions across the globe watched as he opened the door of the capsule, stepped off the platform, and broke the speed of sound while free falling safely back to Earth. Felix set three world records that day—and inspired us all to reach beyond the limits of our own realities, and reimagine our potential to achieve the incredible.

GoPro was honored to be a part of this epic achievement, with seven HERO2 cameras documenting every moment. From the airless freeze of outer space, to the record-breaking free fall and momentous return to ground—see it all through Felix’s eyes as captured by GoPro, and experience this incredible mission like never before. No one gets you closer than this.

Shot 100% on the HD HERO2® camera from http://GoPro.com

January 29, 2014-by Sonal Patel in Power Magazine

Coal ash and sludge lagoons, like those in the foreground of this picture at Duke Energy’s Gibson Station near Princeton, IN have gone largely unregulated until now when EPA, under a legal settlement is required to issue rules for regulation of the hazardous material by December 19 of this year. File Photo © BlairPhotoEVV

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must issue a proposed revision of its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D rules regulating coal combustion residuals no later than Dec. 19, 2014, under a consent decree reached between the agency and environmental groups that was filed in federal court today.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 30, 2013, granted summary judgement to at least 11 environmental groups and on Oct. 29 required the EPA to submit a schedule for final agency action on the RCRA coal ash rule by Jan. 29, 2014. The environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, had sued the EPA in April 2012 to address what they said are the “serious and widespread risks that unsafe disposal of coal combustion waste or ‘coal ash’ poses to human health and environment.” The EPA’s failure to act on “well-documented risks associated with irresponsible disposal of coal ash” violates RCRA, the groups argued.

The EPA in June 2010 published alternative proposed coal ash rules under RCRA in large part due to the December 2008 failure of a coal ash impoundment at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Kingston coal-fired power plant. That disaster released 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash that inundated several homes and contaminated the Emory River in Tennessee. Continue reading page 2 below…

January 24, 2014-by John Blair, valleywatch.net editor

Reuters reported today that Big Rivers will soon “idle”  860 MegaWatts of coal fired electric capacity in western Kentucky. That move expected to be completed by the end of June.

Big Rivers Electric Corporation’s, Kenneth C. Coleman plant near Hawesville, Kentucky is now slated to be “idled” due to their sweetheart deal with Century Aluminum, adjacent to the plant, coming to an end. © BlairPhotoEVV.

According the Reuters report, “Marty Littrel, a spokesman for Big Rivers, said the company was looking to idle the plants, not retire them. “This is a temporary thing. We have some of the lowest-cost power in the country and have made proposals to sell electricity to several other companies,” Littrel said, noting the plants could sell power anywhere in the Eastern Interconnection, which covers much of the eastern two-thirds of North America.

Either way, this should be good news for tri-state air quality since together these plants emit a total of: NOX-6,061 tons; SO2-10,640 tons; toxic air pollution-5,340,920 pounds according to EPA’s eGRID database for 2009 and the Toxic Release Inventory for 2010.

Big Rivers’ DB Wilson plant in Ohio County, KY is slated to be “idled” by the end of February according to a Reuters News Service story posted 1/24/14. © BlairPhotoEVV.

Those emissions reductions, coupled with the reductions that will come from the shuttering of three coal units at TVA’s Paradise plant, announced last fall should bode well for the health of people across the area of western Kentucky and southwest Indiana.

Valley Watch has fought for years to get these plants either cleaned up or shut down but we are surprised to see the Wilson plant get the ax since it is the newest, most efficient plant in the Big Rivers system.

December 30, 2013-by Peter Sinclair at Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Congressman “Smokey Joe” Barton is known for apologizing to BP after the 2010 Oil spill, and harassing climate scientists.
Turns out he’s also been a key connection between the tobacco industry and the climate denial industry. Archival footage from ABC News on the tobacco wars of the 90s turns up sequences of Smoky Joe in action on behalf of Big Cancer.

December 25, 2013-Video by David Suzuki

This video explains why population and economic growth is a false proposition.