Last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the first ever national standards for toxins dumped into waterways from coal plants. These "Effluent Limitation Guidelines" are the first time standards for water pollution from coal plants have been updated in more than 30 years.
Today a coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, and Clean Water Action released a new report that illustrates the importance of limiting toxic water pollution from coal plants for Florida and the rest of the nation.
The report, titled "Closing the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry Is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can Stop It," reviewed water permits for 386 coal plants across the country, and sought to identify whether states have upheld the Clean Water Act by effectively protecting families from toxic water pollution.
In a press release, the Sierra Club said that existing guidelines written to limit toxins discharged from coal plants do not cover many of the worst pollutants; they referred specifically to TECO, "such as in 2011 when the Big Bend Power Station in Hillsborough County discharged 1206 lbs of selenium into the Big Bend Bayou."
This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2013.