Big Brown Steam Electric Station has 15 groundwater monitoring wells, 15 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between October 21, 2015 and November 06, 2018. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of cobalt, lithium, selenium, radium, arsenic, boron, barium and chromium.
Site descriptionBig Brown Steam Electric Station is located near Fairfield Lake State Park in Freestone County, Texas. The station was a 1,187 MW plant which operated from 1971 until its retirement in 2018. Big Brown has two ash disposal areas regulated under the federal coal ash rule, Ash Disposal Area II and Bottom Ash Ponds. The Bottom Ash Ponds include both a North and South Bottom Ash Pond and are eight acres in size each. Cells 1 through 11 of Ash Disposal Area II have a clay liner and occupy 320 acres of land. Plant Big Brown's Ash Disposal Area II and Bottom Ash Ponds are regulated under the CCR-rule. You can find the industry reported data here.
For more information about Big Brown Steam Electric Station, see EIP's reports: America's Top Power Plant Toxic Air Polluters, Groundwater Contamination from Texas Coal Ash Dumps and EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report Coal's Poisonous Legacy.
For more information about Texas Coal Ash, see Earthjustice's fact sheet, Texas and Coal Ash Disposal in Ponds and Landfills.