EPA to test coal ash ponds at Alliant’s Burlington plant

The Environmental Protection Agency has required additional testing of Alliant Energy coal ash ponds that cover about 68 acres near its generating station in Burlington to see if they can withstand an earthquake.

The EPA inspected coal ash storage facilities operated by the Interstate Power & Light and Wisconsin Power & Light subsidiaries of Alliant in fall 2011, Alliant spokesman Ryan Stensland said. Five facilities were inspected. The Burlington facility, with five storage ponds holding coal ash, was singled out for additional testing, Alliant spokesman Ryan Stensland said.

The primary concerns about the Burlington facility were its ability to withstand a potential seismic event, such as an earthquake, and its ability to handle projected future volumes of coal ash, according to a statement released by the agency.

The statement did not suggest urgency to the situation, saying state and Alliant officials were notified of the need for further testing “our of an abundance of caution.”

Stensland said the Burlington power plant is “a tad closer” to the New Madrid fault, an area of seismic activity, than any of the company's other plants, but is not on the fault.

“They wanted to make sure the ash ponds are able to withstand an earthquake,” Stensland said.

The ash ponds at the site range in size from 22.9 acres to a 4.54 acre pond that has been retired. Stensland said the utility is confident there are no issues regarding the impoundments, but that if any are found Alliant will take preventative measures to ensure they are resolved.

Alliant diverts 50 percent of the coal ash from the plant into a recycling program that keeps it out of the ponds, Stensland said.

The EPA has begun stepped up inspections of coal ash storage facilities across the country following a massive December 2008 release of wet coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant. The amount of ash released was enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep in coal ash, a substance that some scientists and environmentalists believe should be regulated as hazardous waste.