Foe of Nuclear Power Station Wants DEP Removed from Pollution Case
November 26, 2008
McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - David Funkhouser The Hartford Courant, Conn.
After years of false starts and legal fights, state environmental officials are moving forward with plans designed to stem pollution from the Millstone Nuclear Power Complex.
The plan is supposed to cut the amount of heated water that the plant pumps into Long Island Sound each day -- a plan that has the backing of a cross section of environmentalists.
But not all.
One longtime foe of Millstone is charging that the state Department of Environmental Protection has failed to stop the facility from polluting and is asking the state's courts to remove the agency from the case.
So far, the courts have been reluctant to go along with the idea, and the state Supreme Court is now deliberating whether former attorney Nancy Burton, a leader of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, is the one who should be pushed aside.
Burton's assault on Millstone and the DEP puts her at odds with environmental groups who have fought for years to stop the nuclear plant from polluting the Sound and killing millions of young fish and other aquatic life. They are confident that efforts now underway will lead to significant improvements.
The dispute comes at a critical time in the battle over the environmental damage caused by the plant.
The DEP is set to hold a public hearing Dec. 4 on a long-overdue pollution permit, one that would require the plant's operator, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, to figure out by 2012 if it can install a
system to recycle the water it uses to cool the reactors.
Every day, the Waterford plant draws 2 billion gallons of water from Niantic Bay to cool its two nuclear reactors, then dumps the heated water back into Long Island Sound. The recycling system would cut the amount of water the plant needs -- and lower the fish kill by 90 percent.
If it can't install such a system, Dominion would have to come up with an equivalent plan. In the meantime, the company has agreed to take immediate measures to cut its water usage. Two environmental groups who helped negotiate the terms of the new permit say it finally will put Millstone on the right track. Terry Backer, head of one of those groups, Soundkeeper, said that the permit will accomplish in three years what could have taken a decade through the courts.
"I'm not sure getting into court will in any way expedite getting rid of the giant fish-killing machine," he said.
Environmentalists still fault the DEP for failing to press Millstone harder through the years. But Roger Reynolds, an attorney with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, said that the DEP has made progress since Gina McCarthy took over as commissioner.
But in her lawsuit now before the Supreme Court, Burton is asking the court to take over the process. She contends that the DEP has illegally allowed Millstone to operate with an expired permit. The plant's water discharge permit, required under the federal Clean Water Act, expired in 1997.Burton charges that "collusion and corruption characterize the relationship between DEP and Dominion." She said in the lawsuit that former DEP Commissioner Arthur Rocque signed off on emergency authorizations to extend Millstone's permit, even though he suspected that they might violate the law.
Burton also charged that the DEP hearing officer overseeing the permit has a conflict of interest because she once ran an agency that oversees transport of Millstone's radioactive waste to a South Carolina dump.
The state dismisses her accusations as baseless. The DEP has blamed the long permit delay on changing federal policies and court battles.
Burton "has provided no evidence of collusion and conflict of interest," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office represents the DEP. He said that Burton has no standing to sue and should have pursued her complaint through administrative channels.
Burton insists that the new permit agreement is not good enough. She asked a Superior Court judge in 2007 to force Dominion to install a closed-cycle cooling system by 2010. Burton contends that the plant not onlykills fish with its cooling system, but also releases radiation and toxic chemicals that threaten human health.
Dominion spokesman Pete Hyde said that any releases of radioactive material from Millstone are far below limits set by federal agencies. The amount of radiation a person in Connecticut would be exposed to from radon or other sources is significantly higher, he said.
A judge dismissed Burton's suit in May 2007, saying that she did not have standing to sue. Burton appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the case Oct. 15.
In a separate case at Superior Court in Hartford, Burton is seeking an injunction to force Millstone to halt plans to increase its power output and ultimately to close the plant. Dominion contends that Burton has no right to bring that suit, either. Superior Court Judge Julia Aurigemma heard arguments on a motion to dismiss the case Nov. 10.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given Dominion the go- ahead to boost its power output by 7 percent. The plant, recently shut down for refueling, is preparing to restart with the added power, Hyde said.
Burton said that she filed an appeal this month with the commission, which denied her request for a hearing on the power increase.