Brame Energy Center has 21 groundwater monitoring wells, 7 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between February 24, 2010 and April 23, 2013. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of arsenic.
Site descriptionThe Brame Energy Center (formerly known as Rodemacher Power Station) has been operational since the mid-1970s. The facility includes the following land disposal units: a fly ash pond, a bottom ash pond, an ash management area/Type I landfill, two metal cleaning waste ponds, a coal sedimentation pond, a landfill leachate collection pond, and a clarifier sludge sedimentation pond. Lake Rodemacher and Bayou Jean de Jean are located approximately 50 feet from coal combustion waste disposal units. The uppermost aquifer beneath the waste management units flows towards those surface water bodies.
There are 36 registered water wells within a one-mile radius of the plant (CLECO 2007). However, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources' Well Log GIS Layer indicated that there are 12 private drinking water wells within a two-mile radius of the site.
Read EIP's report In Harm's Way for more information about Brame Energy Center.