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Sustainability panel urges opposition to coal-ash rollback, signs on to two letters
Summary
Michigan City’s Sustainability Commission voted June 11 to sign national and state letters opposing proposed rollbacks to coal-ash disposal rules and urged residents to submit personal testimony; commissioners cited local health concerns tied to legacy NIPCO coal-ash sites.
Michigan City’s Sustainability Commission voted unanimously June 11 to sign two advocacy letters opposing proposed federal and state rollbacks of coal-ash disposal rules and encouraged individual testimony to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before the extended June 29 comment deadline.
Nancy Moldenhower, speaking for the commission, said the rollback would allow producers of coal ash to revert to “cap and leave” disposal practices that she and other members said risk groundwater and community health. The commission approved signing the Sierra Club’s national letter and a separate Indiana Coal Ash Coalition letter, and members committed to circulate the call for personal stories.
Commissioners and members cited local concerns tied to the former NIPCO power plant. Beverly M. Martin said she located a 2005–06 report from the Indiana Minority Health Coalition showing a higher incidence of a particular cancer on Michigan City’s west side and linked it in argument to local air and soil contamination. Nancy Moldenhower said NIPCO has already removed several coal-ash ponds but that man-made landfills and remaining plume migration toward Lake Michigan remain an unresolved concern.
Moldenhower described actions NIPCO took during recent remediation, including sealing ash and routing trucks on specified roads, but added the commission’s focus is now monitoring the remaining ‘‘man-made land’’ and groundwater. Commissioners discussed the location and adequacy of groundwater monitors and asked for follow-up on whether current monitors are sited appropriately to establish baselines and plume movement.
The commission’s motions were procedural and advisory: both sign-on votes passed unanimously; no regulatory authority was exercised at the meeting. Commissioners asked staff to circulate the two letters and the instructions for submitting individual testimony to the EPA and to follow up with additional technical questions about monitoring and remediation.
Next steps: commissioners will distribute the sign-on letters and encourage residents to submit personal testimony to the EPA before June 29; staff will seek clarifications about monitoring-well placement and ongoing remediation outcomes at the NIPCO site.
