Citizens Want Power Plants to Clean Up Act

Courts will eventually decide whether some Midwest power plantsviolated the federal Clean Air Act by making changes to their operationswithout installing special pollution control devices. But some Ohioenvironmentalists are not waiting for the lawsuit on that matter to bedecided in court. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jo Inglesreports, the activists are trying to force the power plants to reducepollution by going around the courts:

Transcript

Courts will eventually decide whether some Midwest power plants violated the federal Clean Air Act by making changes to their operations without installing special pollution control devices. But some Ohio environmentalists are not waiting for the lawsuit on that matter to be decided in court. As Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports, the activists are trying to force the power plants to reduce pollution by going around the courts.


Bob Love and his family are happy with their house on the Muskingum River in southeastern Ohio. Love says it would be a much better place to live if his property wasn’t continually blanketed with acidic rain and black grit from fly ash. The source of that pollution? He believes it’s the American Electric Power Plant just a mile from his home. Love says he can hear the plant blowing out fly ash after dark. And he says he can see the damage from it.


“We believe that it is killing our garden, our fruit and flowers. It definitely eats holes in our canvass boat covers, outdoor furniture and boat seats.”


Love says it’s not only his property that is suffering….it’s the health of his family and friends who also live near the plant. He says they suffer from respiratory problems directly related to the electric company’s operations.


“Would you like to feel their pain and discomfort. We’ll just stick your head in a plastic bag with a very small hole in it for a few hours. This will give you a sense of what they, the oxygen therapy people, are going through. Struggling for every breath.”


Several of Ohio’s environmental groups are backing Love’s request for the power company near his home to clean up its act. The environmentalists say the power plants are causing a public health crisis in Ohio. Amy Simpson is with the Ohio Public Interest Research group.


“In 1999, more Ohioans died from power plant pollution than died in drunk driving accidents and in homicides combined.”


The environmentalists want Governor Taft to force Ohio’s Environmental
protection agency to order changes for four of Ohio’s dirtiest plants. The Ohio Environmental Council’s Jack Shaner says the companies that own the plants are breaking pollution laws.


“The utilities upgraded their power plants, but failed to upgrade their pollution controls. This a blatant violation of the clean air act and Ohio law.”


American Electric Power owns two of the plants under attack. Company
spokesman Pat Hemlepp calls the claims bogus.


“These are claims that these special interest groups make repeatedly. They have their own agenda out there. And frankly, the claims that they’re making here are the same claims they made in other places, under other titles. Its the same story, different title.”


Hemlepp says the company is operating under all of the guidelines in place under the federal clean air act. He says the company’s plant are not harming the health of their neighbors.


“Those regulations are designed to protect public health and the environment. With an extra margin of safety. And our plants comply with the regulations that are in place.”


The environmental groups are involved in lawsuits against AEP and the other power companies that operate four power plants the groups deem as dirty. For that reason, Hemlepp says the activists should wait to fight it out in a court room….not in the court of public opinion.


“And it’s extremely disturbing that these special interest groups are attempting to declare themselves judge and jury. Bypass the courts on the litigation that they are involved with, with our company right now. And attempt to find the company guilty on their own, because that is not how the system works.”


There are dozens of similar power plants operating in other states
throughout the country….most of which are under fire from environmentalists. And a lawsuit similar to the one in Ohio being considered by courts in Georgia. Lawsuits like these are complicated….and take a long time to resolve. That’s why environmentalists in Ohio are trying to get the state’s governor and Ohio’s environmental protection agency to go change the permits for these plants immediately. And if the activists here are successful in doing that, it’s likely environmentalists in other states might try doing the same thing. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jo Ingles in Columbus.