TECH

Ohio River tops nation for industrial pollution

James Bruggers

@jbruggers

At issue are pollutants the build up in the food web
Mixing zones make it easier for industries to comply with pollution rules
Kentucky already bans mixing zones for bio-accumulating pollutants.
Indiana supports turning mercury question over to states

The Ohio River once again leads the nation for industrial pollution.

That's even as the eight-state commission that sets the river's water quality standards recommends relaxing rules on mercury and certain other toxic chemicals.

By all accounts, the river that marks Kentucky's northern border and Indiana's southern flank is much cleaner than it was a generation or two ago.

But recent numbers — compiled by Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission and the commission's latest proposals for changes and variances to water quality standards — show the Ohio very much remains a working river that cuts through the heart American industry.

"You are going to have pollution in some shape or form," said Gerald Smith, who has been fishing the Ohio for 40 years and is youth director for the Kentucky Bass Federation. "Over the years they've done a real good job of controlling it."

But he added: "I'm not saying it can't be better."

The ORSANCO report published in February and updated last week provides an analysis of the latest pollution discharges found in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory, a national database that tracks pollution to the air, land and water.

It shows the Ohio topped the nation's waterways for pollution discharges from industry at 24,180,821 pounds in 2013, the most current year available. The amount is more than double what industries pour into the Mississippi River, which ranked second. The report also found that the Ohio has led American waterways in industrial pollution since 2001.

While those numbers may seem large, commission officials urged the public not to be alarmed. The industrial effluent gets diluted in the river's vast flow of water, they said.

"The volume of the Ohio River is considerable," the agency said in a written statement. The EPA data does not factor in the river's volume, so its inventory does not reveal the actual concentrations of the pollutants, which helps determine their environmental impact, ORSANCO said.

The commission also said 92 percent of the toxic discharges were nitrate compounds — most of those from AK Steel's Rockport, Ind., plant — and yet the river still meets human health standards for nitrates.

"We are currently working to determine if the level of nitrate-nitrogen is detrimental to aquatic organisms," said Greg Youngstrom, environmental specialist with the commission.

AK Steel spokesman Barry Racey said his plant's releases meet "the strict parameters of federal and state environmental regulations."

He also shifted the blame for nitrate pollution in the Ohio to farm run-off from nitrogen-based fertilizers, which is not required to be reported in the EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory.

For their part, clean water advocates pointed out that regardless of their source, nitrates contribute to toxic algae blooms and the oxygen-depleted Gulf of Mexico dead zone, which last summer was about the size of Connecticut.

"ORSANCO should be doing more to limit these toxic pollutants, rather than trying to rationalize the numbers," said Tim Joice, water policy director for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance.

Mercury rising

Pound per pound, some chemicals are more troublesome than others, and "a little bit of mercury causes a lot of problems," acknowledged Peter Tennant, the commission's executive director.

Mercury is one reason Kentucky has fish-consumption health warnings for the Ohio, along with other Kentucky waterways.

Though mercury ranked 48th by weight of toxic chemicals or metals dumped into the Ohio in 2013, it is persistent in the environment, and builds up through the food web, from tiny creatures to fish to predators like bald eagles, or people.

Mercury discharges in the Ohio are also increasing, up more than 500 percent, from 61 pounds in 2007 to 380 pounds in 2013.

ORSANCO has been concerned about mercury for a long time. In 2003 it adopted rules that after 10 years would phase out so-called "mixing zones" for mercury and other bio-accumulating pollutants.

Mixing zones allow companies to take their mercury measurements downstream from their discharge pipes, after some dilution.

This past week, however, the commission proposed to put on hold indefinitely the use of mixing zones for existing industrial facilities. Instead, any mixing zones would be handled through permits issued by states.

States would be encouraged to eliminate them "as soon as practicable," but with no deadlines.

"A final decision will be made by the commission after considering all the public comments," said Jason Heath, assistant chief engineer for the commission.

Plants would need to demonstrate measures taken to reduce their mercury discharges, Heath said, adding that a mixing-zone ban for new industrial facilities remains in effect.

But critics said the proposal would lead to a patchwork of different standards for especially dangerous types of pollutants up and down the Ohio.

"ORSANCO is essentially stepping back from its responsibility ... to set wastewater discharge standards, and instead allowing states to regulate their permitted facilities differently throughout the Ohio River Basin," Joice said. "We would much prefer that ORSANCO continue with the approach it took in 2003, now 12 years ago, to ensure uniform protections throughout the basin for the Ohio River."

Variance requests

Some industries have struggled complying with their limits. A review by ORSANCO two years ago found that dozens of facilities including power plants and sewage treatment plants could potentially run afoul of them.

As power plants remove mercury from their smokestack emissions, there has been concern it could increase what gets poured into the river.

Heath said the commission staff does not know how many plants may still need mixing zones.

But one company in West Virginia was already granted a variance by ORSANCO, which two years ago also extended its mixing zone ban to October 2016.

Three more plants have sought a variance, including a First Energy power plant in West Virginia. First Energy argues that it needs more time to evaluate effective controls for mercury discharges into the water from its air pollution scrubber system.

Both the First Energy variance and the larger proposal on mixing zones will be the subject of a public hearing April 14 in Erlanger, Ky. Written comments may be submitted through May 14, ORSANCO said.

ORSANCO board member Tom FitzGerald, a Louisville environmental lawyer, said he opposed putting the First Energy variance out for public comment, saying the company did not meet the criteria needed.

As for the larger question, he said ORSANCO members have been divided. Some wanted the mixing zone ban to remain, others wanting to lift it, and some favored the proposal that would have states try to ratchet down the discharges.

One advantage of that, he said, is state decisions on any variances are subject to administrative and judicial review, giving the public an appeals process. ORSANCO variances don't allow for appeals, he added.

Hoosier support

Indiana Department of Environmental Management, whose commissioner Tom Easterly is chairman of the ORSANCO board, supports the proposal.

"We believe there would only be one facility that would be affected, and for that facility we would like to be able to use our mercury variance," said Barry Sneed, an IDEM spokesman. He said he did not know the identity of that facility.

Peter Goodmann, director of the Kentucky Division of Water, said Kentucky has not taken a position on the proposal yet.

Kentucky already does not allow for mixing zones for bio-accumulating pollutants.

"I don't see any significant changes beyond what Kentucky is currently doing in its working with the regulated sector," he said.

The commission's jurisdiction consists of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, and was established by Congress and the eight states in 1948. In addition to setting water quality standards, it performs biological assessments, does environmental monitoring and coordinates emergency response activities for spills.

It expects to complete a report on mercury trends in fish later this year.

Smith, the fisherman, said he knows the river has improved.

He can tell, he said, because there are a lot more small mouth bass, a fish that prefers higher quality water. "The water clarity has also improved," he said.

"From the 1980s through the 1990s, we saw substantial decreases in the bad stuff," said Tennant, the commission executive director. "The next decade, things seemed to level out," and "the heavy lifting has been done.

"Now you are trying to tweak the operations, get a little better removal from the (industrial) operations you have out there."

But commission critics fear some of its tweaking will make matters worse. And that the mixing zone proposal if approved, it may mean more mercury in the river.

And even though, so far, all facilities obtaining or seeking variances from the commission are in West Virginia, mercury from those plants flows down river and will continue to cause problems along Kentucky's long stretch of the Ohio, said Judy Petersen, executive director of the waterways alliance.

She called the commission proposal "a continuing backpedaling."

Reach reporter James Bruggers at (502) 582-4645 or on Twitter @jbruggers.

If you go

•What: ORSANCO hearing.

•When: 7 p.m. April 14.

•Where: Holiday Inn Cincinnati Airport, 1717 Airport Exchange Blvd., Erlanger, Ky.

If you can't go

Submit comments in writing to:

•pcs@orsanco.org

•or to ORSANCO, 5735 Kellogg Ave., Cincinnati, OH, 45230.

About mercury:

•EPA says high levels of mercury in the blood of babies and young children can harm developing nervous systems.

•U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says mercury can also harm top-level predators that eat fish, such as bald eagles, which have been expanding their range in Kentucky and Indiana.

Mercury discharges in Ohio River:

2007: 61 pounds

2008: 209 pounds

2009: 195 pounds

2010: 150 pounds

2011: 161 pounds

2012: 147 pounds

2013: 380 pounds

Source: ORSANCO