Clermont County is suing the owners of the former Beckjord Power Plant over toxic coal ash contamination.
The County Commissioners filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. It alleges the power station’s owners violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by storing leftovers from burning coal in a way that allowed them to come into contact with groundwater at the Beckjord property.
Millions of tons of coal ash sit in unlined ponds next to the Ohio River and upstream of the Pierce-Union-Batavia Townships well fields, which provide drinking water for approximately 145,000 residents. The commissioners say contaminants from the ash ponds are migrating toward the wells, threatening the county’s public water source. The county says drinking water remains safe, but, if the toxic waste reaches more wells, the community could have to pay millions of dollars to upgrade its water treatment facility.
The lawsuit seeks to get the plant owners to clean up the coal ash and control the alleged contamination. It names Beckjord owner Commercial Liability Partners, its subsidiary, New Richmond Development Corporation, former Beckjord owner Duke Energy and others as defendants.
The lawsuit comes after the commissioners issued a Notice of Intent to Sue to the power plant’s owners in June, giving them 90 days to remove the coal ash and remediate the site. Because no action was taken during that period, the commissioners sued.
“We said we would act if the responsible parties did not, and we have kept that promise,” said Commissioner David Painter in a press release. “The responsibility for addressing conditions at Beckjord—and the cost of remediation—must fall on the parties responsible, not the residents of Clermont County.”
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