Sherburne County (Sherco) Generating Station has 57 groundwater monitoring wells, 21 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between May 03, 2010 and October 30, 2019. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of nitrate, sulfate, arsenic, cobalt, selenium, lead, molybdenum, antimony and cadmium.
Site descriptionSherco Generating Station Xcel Energy Company’s Sherburne County (Sherco) Generating Station is a 2,469-MW coal-fired power plant located along the Mississippi River, about 45 miles northwest of the Twin Cities in Becker, Minnesota. The facility began operations in 1976 and consists of three units. Units I and II are scheduled to be retired in 2026 and 2023 respectively, building a natural gas power plant on the site, while Unit III is scheduled for retirement in 2030. Sherco disposes of coal in its Bottom Ash Pond, Sherco Scrubber Solids Pond 3 and Sherco 3 Landfill. All three disposal units are regulated under the CCR rule.
Sherco Generating Station is among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of potential damage cases, indicating that it has potentially polluted groundwater or surface water at levels which threaten human health and the environment.
You can find the industry-reported data here. For more information about the Sherco Generating Station, see EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report.