C.D. McIntosh Jr. Power Plant has 40 groundwater monitoring wells, 7 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between January 10, 2012 and July 17, 2015. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of sulfate, manganese, arsenic and nitrate.
Site descriptionLakeland Electric's C.D. McIntosh Jr. Power Plant is in Lakeland, Florida near Lake Parker, a densely populated, popular recreation area in Polk County. The site covers 530 acres, much of which is covered by water and man-made former phosphate mining pits that are now managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Power plant has a nominal rate of 364-MW with one coal-fired unit. The facility, which opened in 1982, was retired earlier in March 2021. The McIntosh Byproduct Storage area is estimated for closure in 2025.
In 2000, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection entered a consent order with Lakeland Electric concerning deficiencies in its coal combustion waste landfill operations and plant. These violations included discharges of leachate into a storm water swale, pumping liquid waste from the settling ponds into the landfill, failing to submit groundwater monitoring reports for 10 years from 1990-1999, and illegally discharging industrial wastewater. As a result of the consent order, the facility had to complete an assessment of the site, conduct extensive groundwater monitoring, and develop a groundwater monitoring plan for continued groundwater monitoring. According to an April 2013 consent order closure letter, the plant was assessed $180,691 in penalties.
You can find the industry-reported data here. For more information about the C.D. McIntosh Power Plant, see EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report.