Plant Yates has 26 groundwater monitoring wells, 9 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between June 01, 2016 and October 11, 2017. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of cobalt, boron, sulfate, beryllium, radium and selenium.
Site descriptionPlant Yates borders the east bank of the Chattahoochee River, eight miles northwest of the city of Newnan in Coweta County. The 2,400-acre plant opened in 1950 and is gradually transitioning from the use of coal-fired units to natural gas combustion turbines. Originally there were seven coal-fired units. Five of the seven coal-fired units were retired in 2015. The two remaining plants were converted to natural gas and can produce 700-MW of electricity.
Plant Yates has six ash ponds and two landfills. The first ash pond (AP-1) has not received any waste since the construction of the second ash pond (AP-2) in 1966 when it became a settling basin for coal pile runoff. AP-2 contains over 1.5 million cubic yards of coal ash and wastewater, only 100 feet away from the Chattahoochee River. Of the six ash ponds, AP-A, AP-B, AP-1, AP-2 are to be closed by removal of CCR, while the closures of AP-B’ and AP-3 will be conducted under performance standards for closure while leaving CCR in place and installing final cover systems.
You can find the industry-reported data here. For more information about Plant Yates, see EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report.