PIERCE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The Clermont County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday served a formal Notice of Intent to Sue the current and former owners of the former Walter C. Beckjord coal plant over the handling and disposal of coal ash on the property.
In its notice, the board claims Beckjord owner Commercial Liability Partners and its subsidiary, New Richmond Development Corporation, as well as former Beckjord owner Duke Energy, violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act while handling, storing, treating and disposing of coal combustion residual waste at the Beckjord site, which sits right along the Ohio River.
The WCPO 9 I-Team has covered the 6 million cubic yards of leftover coal fly ash stored in manmade ponds along the river, which is a drinking water source for more than 5 million people. Those unlined ash ponds are in the river's floodplain and directly upstream from the Pierce-Union-Batavia Townships well fields, which give drinking water to around 145,000 people.
Last November, the I-Team found that one of two interceptor wells intended to protect the drinking water from a migrating sulfate plume has not been operational since 2023.
Coal fly ash is a by-product of burning coal, which contains contaminants such as mercury and arsenic, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The notice says exposure to those contaminants has been connected to risks of skin, liver, bladder and lung cancer as well as other harmful effects.
"We are taking this action today on behalf of the people of Clermont County," Clermont County Commissioner David Painter said in a release. "It is our responsibility to protect our residents and our County’s public drinking water from conditions that threaten public health, safety, welfare, and the environment."
The notice also alleges that CLP's and NRDC's proposed closure plans do not comply with applicable federal law.
CLP, NRDC and Duke Energy have been given 90 days to take appropriate remedial action. If they do not, the commissioners then intend to file a federal lawsuit against those responsible for the alleged violations.
The lawsuit would be similar to the one filed by more than 100 Pierce Township neighbors more than six years ago.
