EPA rejects DTE's continued use of coal ash basins at Monroe, Belle River plants

Federal regulators have rejected DTE Energy's method of storing polluting coal ash at its Monroe and Belle River power plants, saying that the utility's monitoring of potential groundwater contamination is inadequate and that DTE hasn't proven its unlined coal ash retention basins are protective.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced it intends to deny six requests nationwide by utilities seeking to continue to dispose of coal combustion residuals, known as CCR or coal ash, into unlined surface impoundments — including DTE's Monroe and Belle River plants. Primarily a byproduct of coal-fired power plants, coal ash contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other heavy metals that are known to cause cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive issues.

Environmental groups hailed the action.

"We are extremely encouraged to see EPA has denied all of these applications," said Melissa Legge, an attorney with the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice.

Hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater

"It's clear EPA is taking a close look at the (coal ash) problems we see at many sites across the country — problems with groundwater monitoring networks and, more importantly, evidence that harmful pollutants are leaching into the groundwater."

DTE officials, in a statement, said they disagree with the EPA's decision.

"Comprehensive scientific testing proves that these basins meet and exceed EPA's performance standards and we look forward to providing EPA with additional details during the public comment period," DTE officials stated.

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The Monroe and Belle River power plants are DTE's last coal-fired facilities, as the utility transitions to natural gas-fired generation augmented by wind and solar energy. Built in the early 1970s, DTE's vast Monroe plant provides 30% of the overall power the utility supplies to about 900,000 electricity customers in southeast Michigan. The plant property houses a 410-acre storage facility holding a mixture of the plant's coal ash-containing drainage water, as a well as dry ash stored in a smaller landfill portion. In a February 2021 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, DTE stated the Monroe basin held about 620 million gallons of sluiced fly ash and other wastewater, and received an additional 19 million gallons per day.

The Belle River plant, operating in St. Clair County's China Township since 1984, has twin ash basins that hold about 5 million gallons of coal-ash containing wastewater.

Boron, arsenic, lithium found at DTE sites

The EPA in 2020 created new rules for coal-fired power plants storing coal ash in facilities without protective composite liners. Those rules followed a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that found EPA should not have allowed such facilities to continue to operate "despite the agency's conclusions that unlined impoundments have a 36.2% to 57% chance of leakage at a harmfully contaminating level, and that such leaks, when they occur, pose substantial risks to humans and the environment," EPA officials stated in their proposed orders to DTE.

The new EPA rules required power companies to cease receipt of coal ash wastes in such facilities after April 11, 2021 — but allowed the utilities to appeal and continue to use them if they could demonstrate their facilities provide equivalent protection to a composite-lined basin. The Biden administration's EPA is now rejecting those contentions by utility companies.

"EPA is holding facilities accountable and protecting our precious water resources from harmful contamination, all while ensuring a reliable supply of electricity to our communities," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

"We remain committed to working with our state partners to protect everyone, especially those in communities overburdened by pollution, from coal ash contamination now and into the future."

At both Monroe and Belle River, EPA officials found evidence of elevated contaminants such as boron, arsenic or lithium, and found DTE could not sufficiently support its contentions that the contamination comes from natural or other sources.

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'They're cheating on the groundwater analysis'

EPA officials also questioned DTE's placement and operation of a groundwater monitoring well network. They noted such networks should include wells sufficiently upgradient from a coal ash storage facility so that levels of contamination in groundwater can be read from an unaffected area and then after the groundwater passes through the facility.

At both Monroe and Belle River, EPA found the upgradient comparison wells were too close to the coal ash basins, potentially influencing the readings and masking potential exceedances. It also found some Belle River monitoring wells were too far away from the basin, allowing potential dilution of contamination to occur before it could be monitored by the wells.

Abel Russ, a senior attorney at the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, had a blunt assessment: "They're cheating on the groundwater analysis."

Russ authored a 2019 report, "Coal's Poisonous Legacy," examining governmental data to show the extent to which coal-fired power plants contaminate groundwater.

Improper placement of monitoring wells is a common practice by utilities nationwide, Russ said.

DTE defends its groundwater monitoring system

"What they are supposed to do is identify an unaffected background well, and compare all of the down-gradient, potentially contaminated wells to that background well — to see whether the groundwater, as it passes through the waste disposal area, picks up more contaminants, " he said.

"What they are doing instead is comparing each well to itself, which allows you to see whether there is a trend over time. But at a site like Monroe that is old ... you won't see (contamination); it's already happened. You're not going to see the process of it getting worse because it's already bad."

Said DTE in its statement that it "has a robust groundwater monitoring program, and we publicly report the data on a regular basis."

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EPA officials also found inadequate the information DTE supplied in contending the naturally compacted clay soils that line its coal ash basins provide the same protection as composite liners that meet modern engineering standards.

"The available record is insufficient to conclude that site soils will reliably perform as asserted in the application," EPA officials stated.

At the Monroe site, where the coal ash basin is only about 200 feet from Plumb Creek and Lake Erie, EPA said DTE's provided information "is insufficient to demonstrate a lack of connectivity between the impoundments and nearby water bodies ... and that there is no reasonable risk of this type of release, either now or in the future, if the unit were allowed to continue operation."

Said Russ, "Absolutely it's connected to Lake Erie, and absolutely it's connected to the groundwater. Clearly, the groundwater is not compartmentalized that cleanly, but that's sort of the illusion that they rely on."

DTE has four months after the EPA's signed final order in which to cease using the coal ash basins, retrofit them with composite liners or find alternate means of disposing of its coal ash wastes. EPA is also proposing a process for utilities to seek additional time "if needed to address demonstrated grid reliability issues."

For utilities, EPA's action should be seen as a new day from past practices, said Legge, the Earthjustice attorney.

"We are hoping that the companies will see the writing on the wall and clean up the pollution from their ash," she said. "And other companies that were not taking action will see the EPA is taking a serious look at the (coal ash) rule, and not just expect to get away with it going forward."

DTE announced plans last year to convert the Belle River plant into a natural gas-fired peaking facility by 2026 and to close two power generation units at Monroe by 2028, with the remaining two units ceasing operation by 2035.

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: EPA rejects DTE's coal ash storage at Monroe, Belle River power plants