Analysis: Utility toxins go into ponds

South Carolina coal plants dumped more than 1.1 million pounds of arsenic, mercury, lead and other highly toxic chemicals into ash ponds similar to the one in Tennessee that failed in December, a Post and Courier Watchdog analysis shows.

The worst offender was South Carolina Electric & Gas' Canadys coal plant, which sits on the Edisto River south of St. George.

The plant pumped nearly 358,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including 7 tons of lead, into surface impoundments next to the plant, the analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data shows.

Canadys also has a history of arsenic contamination in groundwater underneath its coal ash ponds, the Watchdog investigation "Toxic Ash" revealed last year.

The debate over coal ash made international headlines three weeks ago when an earthen dike at a coal plant in Tennessee failed, spilling a billion gallons of coal ash sludge into a river.

The spill triggered a national outcry. Conservationists said the spill shows the folly of the coal industry's "Clean Coal" campaign. Congressional hearings into the spill are scheduled to begin today.

Critics also said the spill exposed the existence of more than 100 largely unregulated "wet dumps" across the country where huge volumes of ash are dumped.

In South Carolina, utilities reported to the EPA that they dumped toxic chemicals at eight surface impoundments next to their plants.

The data, found in the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, shows that after SCE&G's Canadys plant, the second-most came from Duke Energy's Upstate power plant near Pelzer, which put 190,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into the ponds.

Santee Cooper's Cross plant was third, at 82,000 pounds.

The EPA data, however, has its limits. Companies submit the information without independent verification. The roster also doesn't touch on the condition of the impoundments, and it leaves out several large ash ponds at the Savannah River Site and SCE&G's Wateree plant.

Utility officials here have said they haven't found structural problems with their landfills.

HOW MUCH AND WHERE?

Toxic chemicals stored in ash ponds:

Power plant — Pounds

SCE&G Canadys Station, Colleton County — 357,897

Duke Lee Station, Anderson County — 190,030

Santee Cooper Cross Station, Berkeley County — 182,662

CP&L, H.B. Robinson, Darlington County — 146,744

Santee Cooper Jefferies Station, Berkeley County — 134,960

Santee Cooper Winyah Station, Georgetown County — 132,716

Santee Cooper Grainger Station, Horry County — 15,360

SCE&G McMeekin Station, Lexington County — 393

Reach Tony Bartelme at tbartelme@postandcourier.com or 937-5554.