Conesville Power Plant

Conesville Power Plant has 51 groundwater monitoring wells, 44 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between April 26, 2010 and December 15, 2017. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of sulfate, manganese, lithium, arsenic, boron, molybdenum, cobalt, fluoride, lead, radium, beryllium, barium, cadmium, thallium and antimony.

American Electric Power's Conesville Power Plant is located in Coshocton County, Ohio on the Muskingum River. Coal ash from the plant is stored in an ash pond complex that was originally constructed in the 1950s. According to a 2009 assessment, the plant's ash pond complex was rated as having a significant hazard potential, indicating that economic and environmental damage would occur if the ponds failed. Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste from the site used to be disposed of in an on-site landfill located northwest of the ash pond complex. The FGD landfill was capped and closed in 1988, and it is on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of proven damage cases due to groundwater contamination. Currently, stored coal ash and air pollution scrubber sludge from the plant that is not sold for "beneficial reuse" is excavated from the on-site ash ponds and disposed of off-site in the Conesville Residual Solid Waste Landfill. This 52-acre landfill was initially permitted in 1985 and is located about two and a half miles northeast of the plant. Groundwater monitoring data for the landfill is publicly available from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

As of May 2019, Columbus Southern Power Company has retired two of their three remaining units, with the third 780 MW planned to be retired in 2020. Plant Conesville’s Ash Landfill and Ash Pond are both regulated under the CCR-rule. You can find the industry reported data here. For more information on Plant Conesville, see EIP’s 2019 National Coal Ash report: Coal’s Poisonous Legacy.