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NIPSCO coal ash ponds unregulated
* Ponds at Wheatfield haven't been inspected since construction in 1982.
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September 9, 2009
By Gitte Laasby, Post-Tribune staff writer

The man-made ponds that the Northern Indiana Public Service Co. uses to store coal ash at its Wheatfield generating station have not been inspected for safety since they were put in service in 1982.

"NIPSCO is not aware of any safety inspections or monitoring subsequent to construction that was carried out under the supervision of a professional engineer," NIPSCO revealed in response to a survey on coal ash impoundments that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released Tuesday.

For more

Read NIPSCO's response to EPA: http://bit.ly/NIPSCOcoalash.

NIPSCO said neither state or federal authorities have -- or plan to -- inspect or evaluate the safety or structural integrity of the four impoundments at the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, about 20 miles south of Valparaiso.

The units hold a combined 888,000 cubic yards of coal ash, fly ash, boiler slag and gypsum on more than 100 acres of land.

In the survey response, NIPSCO said it is aware of two unintended releases from the units over the last 10 years, once when a pump failed on March 10 this year, the other in June 2008. NIPSCO said the releases "did not exceed any reportable quantity threshold and thus was not reported externally."

NIPSCO said it intends to hire a contractor to conduct a safety inspection of three of the impoundments yet this year.

The EPA sent out the survey to 219 facilities across the country in the spring.

The goal is to prevent another spill like the one that happened at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in December, when a broken impoundment flooded more than 300 acres of land and killed fish in nearby rivers.

NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer said it's "unlikely that NIPSCO would ever experience a similar event" to that in Tennessee.

"NIPSCO utilizes dry fly ash handling systems, which eliminate the need for large coal ash impoundments like those used by TVA and others. This ash is deposited into a landfill designed with caps, linings and groundwater monitoring systems," he said in an e-mail. "Also, unlike TVA's Kingston site, NIPSCO's plants are located on flat topography that would inhibit the off-site movement of spilled material."

The EPA uses a potential hazard rating to determine the possible damages and loss of life that could occur if an impoundment were to break.

The Wheatfield facility does not have a rating, according to NIPSCO, but is located in a rural area a mile away from Indiana 49 and 0.7 mile from the Kankakee River.

The ratings are assigned by a state agency, in this case the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

EPA plans to conduct on-site assessments by the end of the year at units with a "high" or "significant" rating.

Spokeswoman Latisha Petteway could not speak to the Northwest Indiana sites but said governmental officials might still come out to rate the Wheatfield facility.

As part of the survey, EPA asked if NIPSCO has other surface impoundments for storage, disposal or byproducts of coal combustion.

NIPSCO lists the Bailly Generating Station in Chesterton, the Dean H. Mitchell Generating Station in Gary and the Michigan City Generating Station.

"The EPA did not ask any specific questions about Bailly and Michigan City. They just asked us to identify other facilities that have impoundments. NIPSCO really didn't distinguish between facilities that dispose fly ash and those that don't," Meyer wrote in an e-mail.

"The fly ash at Bailly and Michigan City is transported to Schafer Generating Station where all of the fly ash is disposed."

At NIPSCO's Michigan City and Bailly generating stations, ash is stored in enclosed silos.

EPA's Petteway said the agency plans to release a full report with more information at the end of this year.

Contact Gitte Laasby at 648-2183 or glaasby@post-trib.com. Follow Gitte on Twitter @GitteLaasbyPT.

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