PITTSBURGH — The Sierra Club has filed suit against a company that became GenOn Power Midwest, claiming its coal-fired generating station is discharging heated wastewater into the Allegheny River in violation of its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit.
According to the Oct. 8 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Division, the Sierra Club filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against NRG Power Midwest LP, which emerged from GenOn's bankruptcy as GenOn Power Midwest in April, claiming violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law.
The suit states the defendant operates the Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale Borough, which is a single unit coal-fired power plant.
"Sierra Club’s members would like to recreate in areas downstream from the Cheswick plant," the plaintiff's complaint states. "The recreational interests of these members have been harmed by the discharge of heated wastewater into the Allegheny River. Members have refrained from kayaking and swimming activities in the Allegheny due to Cheswick’s discharges of heated wastewater into the Allegheny River."
The suit states the wastewater is taken in from the Allegheny River, used for cooling and then discharged back into the river.
"The facts demonstrate that in addition to the eight violations in 2018, on at least four separate days in 2019, GenOn violated its permit by discharging heat from outfall 003 that raised the temperature of the Allegheny River by more than 2 degrees for at least one hour," the suit states.
Among the Sierra Club's requests for relief are civil penalties, a court order mandating that NRG conduct sampling and fix and restore any environmental issues. The Sierra Club also seeks attorneys' and expert witness fees.
The Sierra Club is represented by Benjamin Barczewski of the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case number 2:19-cv-01284