thallium & coal: 'Black rain' from FirstEnergy plant spurs lawsuits

[Guest guest]

Many parents have asked why their child's lab data indicate elevated

thallium. RF Palmer et al have published about mercury and autism in

relation to distances from power plants emitting mercury. The article

herein describes a source of thallium.

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'Black rain' from FirstEnergy plant spurs lawsuits

By Cato

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_578911.html

A " black rain " drizzled down on Gracie Hartle in July 2006 while she

played outside her grandmother's Beaver County home, about a mile from

the state's largest coal-fired power plant.

Within a month, Gracie, then 2, started to lose her hair, even though

FirstEnergy Generation Corp. said the public faced no danger from the

soot that spewed from its Bruce Mansfield power plant in Shippingport.

By Christmas, Gracie -- who has alopecia, which has left her bald,

possibly permanently -- wished only for a wig.

and Hartle now are suing FirstEnergy in one of three

federal lawsuits filed before Tuesday's two-year anniversary of the

incident.

The Hartles claim Gracie was exposed at her grandmother's Raccoon home

to dangerous levels of thallium and other toxic materials that coated

more than 300 homes within 2 miles of the plant.

" Everything we allege is backed by sound science, " said Deanna Kaplan

Tanner, a Montgomery County lawyer representing plaintiffs in the three

lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court, Downtown. " With Gracie, I know it

created a new problem. ... This little girl was poisoned. "

In addition to the Hartles' lawsuit, Tanner is seeking compensation for

19 others who have suffered health problems they blame on plant

emissions. She also filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status for

property damage caused by " black rain " and other pollution. That lawsuit

requests that health assessments be performed on residents living near

the plant who have been exposed to excessive air pollution.

" Those rains put solid waste on people's property, and these deposits

contain toxic levels of arsenic and other dangerous materials, " Tanner

said. " The plant cannot use the land of the plaintiffs as a dumping ground. "

FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin declined to discuss the lawsuits. He

said the Akron-based company, which last year made a $1.3 billion profit

on revenues of $12.8 billion, is working with state regulators to

address problems with the plant's visible emissions.

" The visible plumes, the opacity, is a difficult problem, " Durbin said.

At least two additional " smokestack rainouts " have occurred since the

July 2006 incident, prompting the state Department of Environmental

Protection to twice fine the company the maximum $25,000.

The state Department of Health said both incidents posed no apparent

health hazard to those who touched the material, which was found to

contain elevated levels of arsenic. The agency did not determine what

health risks the contaminants posed for people who inhaled them.

" I'm not excusing (FirstEnergy). They've had some real problems, and

they need to do something, " said DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphreys. " They

are making progress. There's never an easy, quick fix. "

The Mansfield units, built in 1962 and 1977, emit more than 250 tons of

pollution a year and provide power to nearly 1.5 million households.

FirstEnergy has entered into five agreements with the DEP since 1999 to

improve emissions and other plant functions. Under the latest agreement,

reached in February, the company will pay at least $10,000 a month in

penalties until December 2009 or when it complies with state air

pollution standards.

The Mansfield plant has been assessed $1 million in penalties since

2002, Humphreys said.

The plant was impacted by an $8.5 million settlement reached in 2005

between the federal government and Ohio Edison Co., a FirstEnergy

subsidiary. It was one of three FirstEnergy facilities required to

reduce harmful sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions each year,

with a total of more than 212,000 tons of emissions reductions by 2012.

" We're working to meet the standards that have been established, " Durbin

said.

Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, or PennFuture, and three Beaver

County residents sued FirstEnergy in October over alleged air pollution

violations at the Mansfield plant. That federal lawsuit alleges the

plant repeatedly releases dangerous levels of air pollution.

FirstEnergy records show the Mansfield plant released " harmful and

illegal air pollution " at least 257 times between November 2002 and

March 2007, according to the PennFuture lawsuit.

Cato can be reached at jcato@... or .

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