Article from Express-Times
June 22, 2007

PPL-sponsored report finds no spill damage
Fly ash entered Delaware River in 2005. Critics charge report's denial of harm isn't credible.
Friday, June 22, 2007
By DOUGLAS B. BRILL
The Express-Times

L. MT. BETHEL TWP. The 100 million gallons of contaminated water that spilled into the Delaware River in 2005 didn't hurt wildlife, humans, wells or the river, according to a report commissioned by PPL.

Two companies the energy company hired to study impacts of the spill from PPL's Martins Creek power plant have issued their final report. Arcadis BBL and Normandeau Associates said there's no need for further studies because studies to date have found no harm.

"The study concludes that there is no evidence the fly ash release had any adverse impact," PPL said in a news release. PPL spokesman Paul Wirth said the company would not conduct further studies.

But the various state and federal agencies that are to review the report will determine whether the spill caused harm, said the state Department of Environmental Protection and two river protection organizations.
A basin at the power plant broke in August 2005 and spilled contaminated water into the river. The water was mixed with fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion that contains heavy metal pollutants. The energy company performed a cleanup it said cost $35.5 million.

DEP spokesman Mark Carmon said DEP biologists will review the PPL-commissioned report and a natural resource damage assessment team of state and federal agencies will conduct its own study.

PPL could face monetary penalties depending on the team's findings, Carmon said. The energy company and DEP settled on a $1.5 million penalty in January. But a judge has said the agreement is on hold because the Delaware Riverside Conservancy wasn't included in negotiations.

Attorneys for the conservancy, a group of riverside residents who have intervened in the settlement proceedings, said PPL's report is wrong.

"We know the harmful effects of arsenic and other materials in fly ash and we know they're in the river," Art Russo said Thursday. "To say there's no impact, that isn't credible."

A report commissioned by the conservancy through Sadat Associates of Trenton found adverse impacts to the river and the Oughoughton Creek, a tributary.

"There was definitely a tremendous environmental and human impact from the blowout," said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit organization that defends the river.
"That can't be waved away by PPL's conclusion in this report," she said. "For them to wave a report around and say there are no impacts, we can't accept that. The jury is still out."

Reporter Douglas B. Brill can be reached at 610-759-0508 or by e-mail at dbrill@express-times.com.