"Maryland Coal Ash Landfill Leaks Trigger Lawsuit Threat"

"WASHINGTON, DC -- Concerns about toxics discharged from an unlined coal ash waste dump in suburban Washington, DC have prompted four environmental groups to give formal notice that they intend to sue Mirant MD Ash Management, LLC and Mirant Mid-Atlantic, LLC Corporation of Atlanta, Georgia for Clean Water Act violations in Maryland.

Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Patuxent Riverkeeper claim the Mirant companies are violating the Clean Water Act by failing to comply with the terms of the discharge permit at the Brandywine Coal Combustion Waste Landfill in Brandywine, Maryland.

Pointing to a March 2009 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which established that disposal of coal combustion waste in unlined landfills and surface impoundments is hazardous to human health, the groups say the waste discharges pose unacceptably high risks of cancer and diseases of the heart, lung, liver, stomach, an other organs."

Environment News Service had the story November 22, 2009.