HARRISBURG - Multiple environment organizations that filed similar lawsuits against an energy company had their complaints consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on July 31.
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, Waterkeeper Alliance and PennEnvironment sued Talen Energy Corporation and Brunner Island LLC in one lawsuit, while the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection filed a lawsuit against Talen and Brunner Island in another. The plaintiffs accused the defendants of violating the federal Clean Water Act and Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law when they put contaminants into water.
All of the plaintiffs filed a motion to consolidate their lawsuits, and all parties involved approved it, with no objections, so the court approved the motion.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs requested an injunctive relief, accusing the defendants of “fail[ing] to properly operate five disposal impoundments containing residual waste at (Brunner Island Steam Electric Station) such that the impoundments leached contaminants into and degraded the groundwater; the groundwater discharged into the Susquehanna River; and defendants discharged and/or continue to discharge pollutants into the waters of the Commonwealth.”
The plaintiffs want the defendants to have to pay a maximum of $10,000 a day for each violation to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and asked the court to require the defendants to make the necessary changes (the department previously issued the permit to the defendants but now wants the court to make changes to avoid infringements in the future).
They also requested civil penalties of no more than $10,000 a day for each violation of the Solid Waste Management Act and to start processes that would allow the groundwater to subside.