Powerton Generating Station

Powerton Generating Station has 19 groundwater monitoring wells, 16 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between December 06, 2010 and December 26, 2019. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of manganese, arsenic, sulfate, boron, thallium, molybdenum, cobalt, selenium, lead, lithium, cadmium, radium, antimony, barium and chromium.

Powerton Generating Station is in Pekin, Illinois along the Illinois River in Tazewell County and is operated by Midwest Generation. The station was first built in 1972, and its owner NRG announced that the facility is scheduled to close by 2028. Together, the station's two active coal-fired units burn around 4-5 million tons of coal per year and can generate up to 1,536-MW of electricity. Four other coal-fired units at the site were retired in 1974 and have been demolished. The site currently operates five ash ponds and another on-site, abandoned ash pond is still filled with ash. As of 2009, there were six potable water wells within 2,500 feet upgradient of the ash ponds, two of which are water supply wells for the power plant. Routine groundwater monitoring began on-site in 2011.

In October 2012, Midwest Generation entered into a Compliance Commitment Agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to address violations of groundwater standards at Powerton. Among other requirements imposed by this agreement, the facility's ash ponds are not to be used as permanent disposal sites, two of the site's ash-basins were to be lined or re-lined, and Midwest Generation had to apply for and establish a Groundwater Management Zone and Environmental Land Use Control designations at the site.

You can find the industry-reported data here. For more information about the Powerton Generating Station, see EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report.