An Indiana environmental group is suing the state for allegedly allowing a power plant to discharge coal ash wastewater into the White River.
The Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) filed the lawsuit last week in Morgan County Court against the Indiana Office of Administrative Law Proceedings (OALP) for upholding a 2023 water pollution permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).
The environmental group argues the permit allows the AES-owned Eagle Valley Generating Station in Martinsville to discharge untreated wastewater from leaching coal ash waste ponds into a stretch of the White River, just upstream of Martinsville’s municipal wells.
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Further, the lawsuit argues that, by affirming the permit, “the OALP ignored the law and evidence, disregarded procedural rules, and trampled on the rights of Hoosiers to obtain fair, impartial, and independent administrative review of IDEM’s decisions.”
HEC is seeking to reverse OALP’s ruling to uphold AES’s pollution permit. The environmental group also wants the matter to be sent back to IDEM with instructions that a new permit must fully comply with federal and state water regulation laws.
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