« Ind. Courts - "More young adults are serving on juries." | Main | Law - "Wine Sales Thrive As Old Barriers Start to Crumble" [Updated] »

Friday, August 25, 2006

Environment - "Environmentalists see victory in power plant waste ruling"

Mark Wilson of the Evansville Courier& Press reports:

A permit has been overturned that would have allowed the owner of the Rockport River Terminal to use waste from a nearby power plant as construction fill near the town water supply.

An administrative law judge said the Indiana Department of Natural Resources did not consider whether putting the power plant waste there would affect fish, wildlife or plants in the area when it gave the project a permit.

Rockport River Terminal President Bruce Kanipe has been seeking to use waste from the nearby American Electric Power plant to fill an 1,100-foot-by-500-foot area in the Ohio River floodway.

A major source of groundwater stretches beneath the site along the Ohio River, providing a water source for the towns of Rockport and Grandview in Spencer County, Ind.

Kanipe could not be reached to comment on whether he would file a formal objection to the appeal decision. He has until Sept. 11 to make a decision.

The DNR approved the permit in April 2005 but it was appealed by the groups Save Our Rivers and Save Our Land & Environment and several area residents. The Town of Rockport also joined the appeal.

"This is a major decision," said Don Mottley, an environmental activist who worked on the appeal.

He noted that the same judge, Sandra Jensen of the Natural Resources Commission, had ruled differently in past decisions involving the placing of coal combustion waste in a floodway and that her decision on the Rockport appeal refers to the waste as a contaminant - a key point for environmentalists.

Objectors argued using coal combustion waste - often described as fly ash or bottom ash, depending on its origins - in the floodway would potentially contaminate the water.

An earlier C&P story, from 8/9/05, reported:
Environmentalists and some area residents are appealing a state permit that would allow the owner of Rockport River Terminal in Spencer County to use power plant ash as construction fill near the town water supply.

After a yearlong process, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources approved the business' permit in April. However, it is being appealed by the groups Save Our Rivers and Save Our Land & Environment and several area residents. * * *

A major source of groundwater stretches beneath the site along the Ohio River, providing a water source for the Indiana towns of Rockport and Grandview. The town of Rockport serves nearly 1,200 water customers, according to the town utility office. That concerns Save Our Rivers' Don Mottley. "There are too many people who depend on this aquifer. We don't need another Pines here in Southwest Indiana," Mottley said.

The Northwest Indiana town of Pines was declared a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in 2000 after a plume of groundwater contamination was discovered. The pollution was traced to power plant fly ash, which was disposed of in a landfill near the town.

"That was in a landfill with liners and monitors," Mottley said. "They are not proposing any monitoring here."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 25, 2006 11:15 AM
Posted to Ind. Adm. Bd. Decisions