Oct 2, 2007 - Knight Ridder Tribune Business News
Author(s): Tom Pelton And Phillip Mcgowan

Oct. 2--In the biggest fine the state has levied on a polluter in at least seven years, Maryland slapped a $1 million penalty yesterday on Constellation Energy and the operator of its fly ash dump site in Anne Arundel County for contaminating drinking w ter.

The state's largest power company and BBSS Inc. agreed as part of the negotiated settlement to clean up the ground water where regulators say cancer-causing metals have seeped into private wells. BBSS owns the former gravel mines in Gambrills where Cons ellation has dumped about 8 billion pounds of ash from two coal-burning power plants since 1995. Constellation, which recently stopped using the site and temporarily connected six homes to the county's public water system, will provide permanent hookups for 40 homes whose wells might be polluted. It must install new environmental controls at BBSS b fore dumping can resume.

"There is no more important natural resource than ground water, with one-third of Marylanders relying on it for drinking," said Shari T. Wilson, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment. "Cases like this are very significant in terms of p blic health impact, so it warrants the highest type of fine." Though state and local officials don't know the scope and severity of the pollution, Constellation officials said yesterday that they are confident they can meet the terms of the consent decree. "Our commitment to MDE and to the residents of Anne Arundel County [is] to aggressively take the right steps to determine the cause of these issues and to resolve these issues," said Rob Gould, a spokesman for Constellation.

"It's something we take seri usly, and it's the right thing to do." A BBSS representative could not be reached for comment. Yesterday's agreement was struck a day before a threatened lawsuit by the state environmental agency and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler. "Other polluters have to recognize that they will be held accountable and assessed large fines when they are responsible for polluting and potentially endangering the health of the drinking water of the citizens of Maryland," Gansler said. "Because of t e fly ash leaking into the wells, people were drinking water that was unhealthy and dangerous and contaminated." Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, who brought the issue to the fore on July 31 by calling for a ban of future fly-ash dumps, questioned the companies' ability to meet the terms of the consent decree.

Constellation has known about the leachi g since 1998 and kept dumping, he said yesterday. "Their track record does not augur well for the success of that plan," Leopold said. "Their track record is one of consistent violations of our state and environmental laws. The most effective plan today, given the history of these environmental law vio ations, is to prohibit the continued disposition of fly ash, especially in porous sand and gravel sites." One-year ban The county executive said his emergency legislation is the only effective countermeasure to what he considers "a public health emergency." The County Council voted 6-0 last night on an amended version, which limits the prohibition to one year.

It would ot affect dumping at BBSS. Leopold, a Republican, said the agreement also fails to address homeowners' concerns about dust and air pollution. State officials, who announced yesterday that they are investigating those claims about film-covered cars and dusty carpets, have acknowle ged they have not tested the air quality at the BBSS site since the first disposal of fly ash. Though the county raised the issue in August, the agency responded to its first formal air-quality complaint related to the fly ash on Friday. "It's been a mess, with that ash getting all over our house and windows," said Martha Jenkins, a retired cook who has lived on Summerfield Road, which borders the dump site, all of her 86 years.

The 80-acre dump opened in 1995 after another ash-disposal site used by BGE in the Solley area of northern Anne Arundel County was closed due to neighborhood complaints about contaminated air and water. State records show that, as early as 1998, BGE detected elevated concentrations of sulfates -- an indicator of coal ash leaks -- in ground water beyond the perimeter of the Gambrills dump site. The state knew about the pollution but allowed BGE to conti ue its dumping. Last October, the county launched a 10-month investigation into the extent of the pollution in the surrounding neighborhoods. It found 23 of 83 wells tested positive for dangerous metals such as arsenic, cadmium and thallium -- all components of fly ash

Virginia landfills Spurred by the Leopold administration, MDE issued the consent decree in August against Constellation and BBSS and gave them 60 days to agree on how to clean up the pollution. Under the threat of the lawsuit, last month Constellation began trucking its c al ash from the Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner power plants in northern Anne Arundel County to industrial landfills in Virginia, at the cost of $1 million a month. The cleanup plan could involve sucking the heavy metals out of the ground with a water pumping and filtration system, according to the state agency. The power company must also install a series of groundwater monitors, as well as plastic or clay liners nder the dump to stop future leaching.

The MDE, which previously called fly ash "a beneficial use" in mine reclamation, is now drafting tighter regulations on its disposal that could exceed federal standards. The MDE was unable to say yesterday how the fine compares with others it has issued but said it is the biggest since at least the 1990s, when several polluters were hit with major sanctions. Constellation officials said they are reviewing their plans for how and where they will dispose of fly ash from three coal-fired power plants in Maryland. They are also working to establish an "aggressive community action plan" to ensure that Gambrills esidents, the county government and others will be informed about the cleanup process, Gould said.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us. We want to make sure we are open and transparent about what we are doing," Gould said. Brad Heavner, director of Environment Maryland, an advocacy group that investigated and raised alarms about the fly ash pollution, praised the penalties as "significant." The drawback of the agreement, he said, is that it lets Constellation resume dumpi g at the mine. For this reason, the state will have to remain vigilant with its monitoring and cleanup requirements, Heavner said. "Unfortunately, the dump trucks are going to start rolling back to this site as soon as they line the site," Heavner said.

"We are still calling for a ban on dumping here, because it's already overstretched." tom.pelton@baltsun.com phill.mcgowan@baltsun.com

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