Violations Occurred at Shawville Power Plant
WILLIAMSPORT – The Department of Environmental Protection has fined RRI Energy Mid-Atlantic Power Holdings LLC $32,000 for air quality emissions monitoring violations at the company’s Shawville power plant in Bradford Township, Clearfield County.
“It is very important for power plants to adhere to emissions monitoring requirements within the designated time frames and properly report that information to DEP so we can determine if they meet environmental standards necessary to protect public health,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Robert Yowell. RRI Energy failed to conduct calibration error and other technical testing on the plant’s continuous monitoring system for opacity during the fourth quarter of 2007. This resulted in nearly a month of lost data.
The company also submitted the first and second quarter 2008 opacity reports 98 and 30 days late, respectively, because of revisions to the reports originally submitted. Opacity is the amount of light obscured by the emissions from a stack. Stack emissions with high opacity contain relatively high amounts of particulate matter, which is tiny particles of dust, smoke, mist, or fumes.
The fine was paid to the Clean Air Fund.