A coalition of environmental and clean water groups, including the Sierra Club, released a new report Tuesday highlighting the need for strong Environmental Protection Agency standards to limit toxic water pollution from Kentucky coal plants, including west Paducah’s Shawnee Fossil Plant.
The report says the Tennessee Valley Authority power plant sends nearly 20 million gallons of ash-fouled water into the Ohio River every day, without limits on any toxic heavy metal.
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said the figures included in the report are “nothing we haven’t heard before.”
Brooks said Shawnee is compliant with the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System’s permit program. Under that program, the water discharged from Shawnee is sampled every week for pollutant levels. Brooks said the plant has never had a test failure.