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Clermont County approves RCRA notice over coal‑ash site near PUB wells
Summary
The Board of Commissioners authorized sending a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act notice of intent to sue over alleged improper storage of coal combustion residuals at the former Beckord/Beckjord site in New Richmond, citing the risk of contaminants reaching nearby public utility well fields.
Commissioners voted June 3 to approve a notice of intent to sue under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. §6972) related to coal combustion residuals (CCRs) at a former coal‑ash site near New Richmond.
A county official summarized the board’s concern: CCRs stored at the former site are reportedly in contact with groundwater because the disposal ponds are unlined and lack leachate control, creating a plume risk that could migrate toward county public utility (PUB) well fields. The notice named several entities as recipients, including private developers and Duke Energy, and flagged contaminants of concern in the stored materials — arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, lithium, mercury, selenium and thallium — which the county said can pose cancer and other health risks if they reach drinking water supplies.
The board framed the action as protective rather than punitive. A county speaker said the PUB wells have not yet been impacted, but the county must act to prevent future contamination and to avoid bearing the cost of large‑scale water treatment installations that could exceed $30 million if a plume reaches the wells.
Commissioners approved adding the matter to the agenda and then voted to authorize the notice’s filing. The notice follows a statutory pre‑suit requirement and is intended to prompt remediation or further response by the parties identified.
The board did not hear responses from the entities named in the notice at the meeting. The county will next await any response required by the notice and may pursue further legal or remedial steps depending on how recipients reply.
