Contamination from the Colstrip power plant

• When coal is burned at power plants, coal toxins like lead, mercury and arsenic are released into the air or end up in coal ash waste dumped into storage ponds or landfills.
• At the Colstrip coal plant, partially owned and operated by Talen Energy, more than 76,000 pounds each of chromium and lead are dumped into ash waste impoundments or landfills each year, as well as more than 24,000 pounds of arsenic and 1,100 pounds of mercury. (Source: EPA Toxic Release Inventory)
• Colstrip’s ash waste ponds have been leaching chemicals into groundwater in the area around the plant for decades. Recent maps confirm contaminants spreading beneath the nearby community.
• Talen must pipe Yellowstone River water approximately 30 miles to the town of Colstrip in order to provide clean drinking water that is not contaminated with coal ash. Neighboring ranchers still must rely on the groundwater for livestock, putting their operations in jeopardy.
• Montana has a long history of out-of-state corporations coming to the state to profit, creating toxic waste problems for communities, and then leaving taxpayers with the cleanup costs.

Sources for more information and documentation on health impacts of coal pollutants include reports from the American Lung Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility and chemical fact sheets from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the CDC. And for more on coal ash, also visit the Montana Environmental Information Center and Earthjustice.

Disclaimer: The above video was created when PPL partially owned and operated the Colstrip plant. PPL's share has subsequently been purchased by Talen Energy Corp.

What does the state of Montana need to do?

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) needs to promptly create an effective and enforceable strategy to direct cleanup of coal ash contamination of ground and surface water around the Colstrip coal-fired power plant. Steps include:

• Take control of the coal ash cleanup and respond to public comments.
• Define the extent of the contamination and the projected movement of the groundwater pollution plumes.
• Determine the appropriate baseline for water quality. The Colstrip plants previous owner, PPL, chose background levels for pollutants that are the highest possible level of pollutants in any area well, which would result in little cleanup action.
• Define cleanup criteria and remediation requirements.
• Obtain a bond sufficient for remediation and reclamation work.