Microsoft Word - FINAL Prairie Rivers Network's Comments in R2009-038.doc

7/13/2009

John Therriault, Assistant Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

James R. Thompson Center

100 W. Randolph, Suite 11-500

Chicago, Illinois 60601

PRAIRIE RIVERS NETWORK’S COMMENTS OPPOSING PROPOSED

PETITION TO MODIFY SPECIFIC THERMAL STANDARD FOR AMEREN

ENERGY GENERATING COMPANY’S COFFEEN POWER STATION

Dear Illinois Pollution Control Board:

The Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) hereby submits these comments in opposition to R2009-

038: Ameren Energy Generating Company’s Petition to modify their specific thermal

standard applicable to Ameren’s heated effluent discharge to Coffeen Lake from the

Coffeen Power Station, located in Montgomery County. Prairie Rivers Network is the state

affiliate of National Wildlife Federation, a non-profit organization that strives to protect the

rivers, streams and lakes of Illinois and to promote the lasting health and beauty of

watershed communities. Much of our work focuses on how policies such as the Clean

Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act are used in Illinois - laws intended to protect our

waters, our environment, and, ultimately, our health.

PRN shares the concerns raised by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA),

as established in IEPA’s recommendation to the Illinois Pollution Control Board to DENY

the petitioner’s request for a modified thermal standard. PRN opposes the Petition for the

following reasons:

A) Petitioners Have Failed to Demonstrate That the Artificial Cooling Lake Receiving

the Heated Effluent Will be Environmentally Acceptable and Within the Intent of the

Act.

The burden is on the Petitioners to demonstrate that if granted a modified thermal standard,

the artificial cooling lake will be considered environmentally acceptable and within the

intent of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act

35 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 106.202(b)

Specifically, the demonstration must a) contain provision of conditions capable of

supporting shellfish, fish and wildlife, and recreational uses consistent with good

management practices; and b) provide control of the thermal component of the dischargers’

effluent by a technologically feasible and economically reasonable method. This burden

has not been met. As summarized below, the Petitioner has failed to meet the required level

PRAIRIE RIVERS NETWORK

1902 Fox Drive, Suite G

Champaign, Illinois 61820

217 / 344-2371

217 / 344-2381 fax

www.PrairieRivers.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jon McNussen

President

Charles Goodall

Treasurer

Eric Freyfogle

Secretary

Brian Anderson

Clark Bullard

Dan Deeb

Jean Flemma

Jason Lindsey

Joe Petry

Michael Rosenthal

Electronic Filing -

Received, Clerk's Office, July 14, 2009

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The Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation

Printed on Recycle Paper

of justification for the proposed modification to the specific thermal limits for the discharge

to Coffeen Lake.

1) Petitioner has failed to demonstrate that the proposed modification to the

thermal water quality standard to Coffeen Lake will provide conditions

capable of supporting shellfish, fish and wildlife, and recreational uses in

accordance with 35 Ill. Adm. Code 106.102(b)(1)(A) and 302.211(j)(3)(A).

Constructed in 1963 to provide cooling water for the Coffeen Lake Power Station, Coffeen

Lake has been leased since 1986 by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for

recreational purposes and has served as a municipal water supply. For over 20 years,

Coffeen Lake has been increasingly known by many, including members of Prairie Rivers

Network, as an outstanding recreational site; particularly for fishing as well as boating,

picnicking, bird watching and other nature-based activities.

Coffeen Lake technically is a reservoir resulting from the damming of the McDavid Branch

of the East Fork of Shoal Creek, two miles south of Coffeen. The Lake has a watershed of

18 square miles, and discharges into the East Fork of Shoal Creek, a general use water

body. Coffeen Lake has been identified as not supporting its aesthetic quality use due to

excessive levels of total phosphorus, total suspended solids, and excessive algae growth.

The completed Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report for Coffeen Lake, approved by

USEPA in 2007, concludes that internal loading of phosphorus is a significant contributor

to the phosphorus impairment (Report available at

http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/tmdl/report-status.html

). This finding is significant to this

Petition as increased temperature loading to Coffeen Lake is likely to further contribute to

the release of phosphorus bound to lake sediments and exacerbate the phosphorus

impairment, in violation of the Clean Water Act and the Board’s regulations. In the June

23 hearing, Dr. Shortelle, an expert witness appearing on behalf of Ameren, referenced a

2009 addendum to the TMDL completed by Hanson Professional Services for Coffeen

Lake, which contrasts IEPA’s approved TMDL and concludes that the source of

phosphorus loading is external to the lake. This finding and referenced document, not yet

made available for peer or Agency review, should not be used to counter the conclusions of

IEPA’s 2007 USEPA-approved TMDL in this proceeding.

Additionally, Coffeen Lake does not support its fish consumption use due to excessive

levels of mercury. Testimony by Dr. Shortelle, again in the June 23 hearing on behalf of

Ameren, asserts that the mercury levels in fish from Coffeen Lake is less than mercury

levels in fish from other lakes due to the low ratio of the watershed acreage to the lake

acreage. While this may be factually correct, this does not address the point of concern

which is that increasing temperature loading to Coffeen Lake will likely contribute to an

increase in the size of the anoxic zone in the lake, facilitating the methylation or release of

Electronic Filing -

Received, Clerk's Office, July 14, 2009

* * * * * * * * PCB 09-38, PC # 2 * * * * *

The Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation

Printed on Recycle Paper

mercury available by aquatic organisms such as fish into the lake. This point must not be

taken lightly as it is abundantly clear to the public local to Coffeen Lake, officials from the

Illinois Department of Natural Resources and likely employees of the Ameren Coffeen

Power Station that subsistence fishing is a common occurrence at Coffeen Lake. Fish

consumption is a protected designated use of Coffeen Lake and must be upheld as such.

Furthermore, Coffeen Lake lies within the larger Shoal Creek watershed. The Illinois

Department of Natural Resources’ (IDNR’s) newly-released biological stream ratings show

a significant percentage of the state’s Biologically Significant Stream reaches lie within the

Shoal Creek watershed. (found at

http://www.dnr.state.il.us/orc/biostrmratings/images/BiologicalStreamRatingReportSept20

08.pdf) These Biologically Significant Streams represent rare, high-quality stream

resources. As IDNR states, “Stream segments identified as biologically significant are

unique resources in the state and we believe that the biological communities present must

by protected at the stream reach,

as well as upstream of the reach.”

(p. 23, emphasis

added). Discharges from the Coffeen Power Station to its cooling lake known as Coffeen

Lake will be tributary to these important stream resources. Deterioration of the existing

high quality aquatic community present in the Shoal Creek watershed must be prevented.

35 Ill. Adm. Code § 302.105 (a).

2) Petitioner has failed to demonstrate that alternatives to the proposed

modification to the thermal water quality standard of Coffeen Lake are not

technically feasible and economically reasonable, in accordance with 35 Ill.

Adm. Code 106.102(b)(1)(B) and 302.211(j)(3)(B).

The Petitioners presented four technically feasible options in their Coffeen Cooling System

Thermal Study, prepared by their consultant Sargent & Lundy including: operation of the

existing system with continued de-rating; construction of a new 175,000 gpm helper tower;

construction of a new 130,000 gpm helper tower; and construction of a new 100,000 gpm

helper tower. Though the costs of each of these alternatives was presented, the Petitioner

did not sufficiently determine the affordability of each of the alternatives. It appears from

our review that the $18,000,000 estimated cost of the 175,000 gpm helper tower, estimated

to have a payback period of 11.5 years is an economically reasonable option and should be

considered for implementation. Certainly it cannot be assumed that $18 million is too

much to spend without a far more detailed analysis and a showing that the additional cost

would render increased use of the plant economically infeasible.

Additionally, it is not clear why the recommendation in the 2007 Coffeen Lake TMDL

report of raising the dam level by 3 feet was not given consideration as an alternative to the

proposed modified standard in addressing the thermal discharge problem. It was agreed

upon by both IEPA and the Petitioner in the public hearing that this alternative would allow

Electronic Filing -

Received, Clerk's Office, July 14, 2009

* * * * * * * * PCB 09-38, PC # 2 * * * * *

The Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation

Printed on Recycle Paper

for decreased concentrations of phosphorus and mercury within the lake, both pollutants

that contribute to the lake’s impairments.

B) The Illinois Pollution Control Board Cannot Grant a Modified Thermal Water

Quality Standard That is Inconsistent With Federal Law

The Petition must demonstrate that the Board may grant the requested relief consistent with

federal law governing the subject of the proposal.

35 Ill Adm. Code § 102.210 (e).

Revisions to or adoptions of new water quality standards must be submitted to the

Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review and

approval in accordance with the Clean Water Act.

33 U.S.C. § 1313(c), 40 C.F.R. §

131.20(c) (2)

A water quality standard is a legally binding norm that describes the desired

ambient condition for a waterbody and includes “the magnitude (e.g. concentration),

duration, or frequency that the State would use to determine whether a waterbody is

attaining any applicable water quality criteria.

EPA Region 10. “Water Quality Standards:

Authorities, Definitions & Considerations.”

(January 13, 2009). Clearly, a modified

thermal standard is a water quality standard. As such, it must be submitted to EPA for

review and approval in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act and its implementing

regulations. A new or revised water quality standard has no effect until EPA approves the

change.

40 CFR § 131.21(c)

. Should the Board grant this Petition, the change in water

quality standards must then be submitted to EPA for its review and approval.

In addition, while the Board is not charged in this proceeding with determining whether the

necessary NPDES permits will be granted, the whole point of obtaining a modified

standard is to allow Petitioners to obtain the permits and to discharge additional pollutants

in accordance with those permits. Because Petitioners will be seeking to discharge

additional pollutant loading into Coffeen Lake, the additional thermal loading must comply

with the state’s antidegradation regulations.

See

35 Ill Adm. Code

302.105 (requiring a

demonstration that existing uses will be fully protected.)

35 Ill Adm.Code § 302.105 (c) (2)

(B).

As noted above, however, Petitioners have inadequately demonstrated that the

increased thermal loading will protect the existing uses in Coffeen Lake. At this point,

Petitioners have not even fully accounted for the existing uses in the receiving waterbody.

Both federal law and the Illinois Administrative Code call for a detailed assessment of

existing uses and the environmental impact of the requested relief on those uses. The

requested relief cannot be granted until Petitioners can show the full extent of those

impacts and provide a scientifically supported assurance that those uses will be protected

despite the increase in thermal loading. Currently, petitioner has failed to demonstrate that

the proposed modification to the specific thermal standard for Coffeen Lake will “assure

protection and propagation” of shellfish, fish, and wildlife, in accordance with the CWA

and Board regulations. Further, the Petitioner has totally failed to show that allowing the

Electronic Filing -

Received, Clerk's Office, July 14, 2009

* * * * * * * * PCB 09-38, PC # 2 * * * * *

The Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation

Printed on Recycle Paper

increased heat loading is necessary to accommodate important social or economic

development.

Prairie Rivers Network hereby urges the Illinois Pollution Control Board to DENY

Ameren’s request

as they have not met their burden under Section 28.1(c) of the Act, 35

Ill. Adm. Code 106.200(a), and 35 Ill. Adm. Code 302.211(j)(5).

Sincerely,

Traci Barkley

Water Resources Scientist

Electronic Filing -

Received, Clerk's Office, July 14, 2009

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