For Immediate Release, September 23, 2026

Contacts:

Ragan Whitlock, Center for Biological Diversity, (727) 426-3653, rwhitlock@biologicaldiversity.org

Nicole Funaro, Public Justice, nfunaro@publicjustice.net

HARRISBURG, Pa.— A federal court has denied a motion to dismiss the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit challenging two related companies’ failure to control pollution risks from toxic coal ash at a power plant on the banks of the Susquehanna River in York Haven, Pennsylvania.

“This is a positive step for the Susquehanna River and everyone in Pennsylvania. Now we can move forward to fight the pollution risks of this huge coal ash basin,” said Ragan Whitlock, an attorney at the Center. “It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to get this plant to comply with decade-old monitoring requirements, but in the absence of meaningful oversight we’ll need the courts to protect our environment. We can’t let people and wildlife be endangered by this toxic waste.”

Talen Energy Corp. and Brunner Island, LLC, are storing coal ash in in-ground impoundments at their mixed coal- and natural gas-fired plant along the river. The lawsuit focuses on inspection and monitoring failures at coal ash basin 5, which holds 5.5 million cubic yards of this waste. That’s about 20% more than the interior volume of the Superdome in New Orleans.

On Tuesday the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied the companies’ motion to dismiss the Center’s lawsuit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, stating “according to the complaint, Ash Basin 5 is leaching arsenic to the local area’s groundwater. Under current EPA regulations, Brunner should be taking certain remedial measures it is currently not taking.”

The 1,490-megawatt Brunner Island power plant generates and stores large amounts of coal-combustion residual waste, including fly ash and bottom ash, in in-ground impoundments.

This coal ash waste — a toxic mixture left over after coal is burned — contains a host of heavy metals and contaminants, including cadmium, chromium, lead, radium and arsenic. The waste can pollute waterways and poison wildlife and people.

“Federal and state environmental agencies have failed to enforce the law at this site,” said Jim Hecker, a senior attorney with Public Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Project. “We therefore brought this citizen suit to compel Brunner Island’s compliance with the national minimum criteria for coal ash storage and groundwater protection in the federal regulations.”

According to the company’s public reports, in the first quarter of 2024 high levels of lithium, aluminum, arsenic, molybdenum and manganese were found in the groundwater in several monitoring wells downstream from the coal ash basin.

Arsenic exposure can lead to nervous system damage, cardiovascular harm and a number of cancers in humans. It can also harm the many animals and plants in the Susquehanna River basin.

Brunner Island’s documents indicate that coal ash basin 5 is filled with toxic coal ash at depths of up to 40 feet, 15 feet of which are below the groundwater line. The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that groundwater is a liquid within the meaning of the regulation. The court found that, per the allegations in the complaint, this basin is considered a “inactive surface impoundment” and subject to regulations that require additional monitoring, and if necessary, remedial action.

The Center’s lawsuit says the Brunner Island facility has not conducted the inspection, groundwater monitoring or corrective action required by the EPA for coal ash basin 5. Specifically, Brunner Island has not developed the required groundwater sampling and analysis program or evaluated groundwater monitoring data for increases in pollutants.

Brunner Island has also failed to disclose this information on a publicly available website, which is required by the EPA. These disclosures allow people to be aware of potential risks of fishing or swimming in the Susquehanna River.

Coal-fired steam electric plants are the largest industrial source of toxic water pollution in the United States.

The Center is represented by Public Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Project, Steve Harvey Law LLC, and in-house counsel.

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The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Public Justice takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time—abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights and liberties, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We connect high-impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice. For more information, visit www.public-justice.org.

Steve Harvey Law LLC is a law firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that represents clients seeking civil and environmental justice.