Sierra Club Seeks Clean Up of Coal Combustion Waste Dump

“One of the Largest Illegal Open Dumps in the Nation” Dangerously Polluting Water Supplies in Region

(Farmington, NM) - April 8, 2010 - The Sierra Club took action today to stop the disposal of millions of tons of toxic coal combustion waste each year in unlined pits at the San Juan Coal Mine, and to compel the clean up of previously disposed waste that continues to leach toxic pollutants into the surrounding ground and surface water.

Since 1973, the San Juan Coal Company has dumped more than 40 million tons of coal combustion waste containing pollutants like arsenic, lead and mercury into massive unlined pits at the San Juan Mine, about 10 miles west of Farmington. The coal combustion waste disposed of at the mine comes from the nearby San Juan Generating Station, and includes various forms of ash as well as sludge from the scrubbers that remove air pollutants from the power plant exhaust. As a result of the lack of adequate safety precautions, toxins from the coal combustion waste have leached into nearby waterways and wells, endangering local residents, livestock, and wildlife.

“For years the San Juan Coal Company and others have dumped toxic waste into this mine without regard to what it was doing to those living downstream,” said R.G. “Squeek” Hunt, a local sheep farmer. Water on Mr. Hunt’s property has been repeatedly polluted by the dumping of coal combustion waste in the area. “Thank goodness that somebody is finally going to make the mine accountable for its action.”

The Sierra Club filed a complaint in the United States District Court for New Mexico today against the operators of the coal mine -- the San Juan Coal Company and its parent company BHP Billiton, Ltd. -- as well as the primary operators of the generating station -- Public Service Company of New Mexico and PNM Resources. The complaint alleges violations of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Sierra Club provided notice of its intent to sue in December 2009 to the defendants as well as to the state and federal agencies responsible for regulating surface mining and waste disposal and for maintaining ground and surface water quality. Because the alleged violations persist, the Sierra Club proceeded with filing its lawsuit.

Testing has shown that the levels of arsenic, lead, selenium, uranium, sulfate and many other toxins exceed safe levels in ground and surface water near the mine dump site. These pollutants have been shown to increase the risk of cancer, damage the nervous and reproductive systems, and cause other serious illnesses to people and animals.

The San Juan suit was filed as the Environmental Protection Agency considers strengthening regulations on the disposal of coal combustion waste. An EPA rule regarding coal combustion waste is expected to provide basic minimum standards that would protect public health and the environment for communities all across America.

“The ‘minefilling’ of coal combustion waste in the San Juan coal mine has made it one of the largest illegal open dumps in the nation today,” said Jeff Stant of the Environmental Integrity Project, which is assisting with the lawsuit. “Dumping huge volumes of coal combustion waste every year into the San Juan Mine without meeting basic safeguards violates federal laws. It must end, and the San Juan Coal Company must cleanup the pollution it has caused.”

Over the past years coal companies have been increasingly dumping coal combustion waste in open coal mines, like the San Juan mine, as a way to avoid the costs of landfill disposal, liners, covers and monitoring to make sure toxins don’t leak out. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency has found that water supplies in 24 states have been contaminated from coal combustion waste that was disposed of without proper safeguards.

“Filling mines with toxic coal ash is clearly a growing problem and right now it is happening with very little, if any, oversight,” said Lyndsay Moseley of the Sierra Club. “Coal companies across the country, including the San Juan Coal Company, need to be held accountable for polluting the water with this toxic waste. It is past time for them to clean up their act.”

The Sierra Club is represented by attorneys Charlie Tebbutt and Walton Morris, and by Megan Anderson of the Western Environmental Law Center.