Merom Generating Station

Merom Generating Station has 37 groundwater monitoring wells, 24 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between May 26, 2010 and November 20, 2019. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of lithium, cadmium, sulfate, boron, manganese, chromium, fluoride, cobalt, arsenic, lead, beryllium and barium.

Merom Generating Station is a coal-fired plant located near Sullivan, Indiana and the Wabash River, previously owned by Hoosier Energy. Open since 1982, the station operates two generating units with a total capacity of about 1,000-MW. The facility had been slated for retirement in 2023 until it was sold to Hallador Energy Company in 2022. Hallador Energy still intends to retire the facility eventually but has yet to declare a date. The plant sits on the banks of an unnamed lake. There are three coal ash landfills at the station: Inactive Area 1, Active Area 2, and Area 3. The landfills were designed with either natural cohesive soil barriers or a compacted clay liner. Area 1 and Area 2 landfills were not equipped with a leachate collection system. Area 3 was planned for closure in October, 2016. The Merom Generating Station CCR Landfill is among EPA’s list of potential damage cases – indicating it has polluted groundwater or surface water at levels which threaten human health and the environment.