August 5, 2019 Via U.S. Mail and email Hon. Richard E. Dunn Mr. Chuck Mueller Director Branch Chief Environmental Protection Division Land Protection Branch Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, SE Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources Floyd Towers EastSuite 1456 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, SE Atlanta, GA 30334-9000 Suite 1054 East Floyd Tower c/o Atlanta, GA 30334-9000 Dir. of Legal Services, Laura Williams, Esq.,
[email protected] [email protected] RE: Georgia Power Company’s applications for solid waste handling permits for closure of coal ash ponds at Plant Scherer (AP-1), Plant Wansley (AP-1), Plant Yates (AP-B’ and AP-3 “Ash Management Area” and R6 landfill), Plant McDonough (AP-1, AP-3, AP-4), and Plant Hammond (AP-3) Dear Director Dunn and Branch Chief Mueller: On our own behalf and on behalf of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Inc., and Coosa River Basin Initiative, the Southern Environmental Law Center writes to request that EPD deny Georgia Power Company’s solid waste permit applications to dispose of coal combustion residuals (CCR or coal ash) in place at the above five plants. Denial of these permits is required for numerous reasons, the most glaring of which is that Georgia Power’s closure plans are illegal under both Georgia and federal solid waste laws. In exercising permitting authority over coal ash disposal for the first time in Georgia, EPD has a historic opportunity, and a duty, to assure that coal ash handling and disposal in Georgia “does not adversely affect the health, safety, and well-being of the public” and that such practices “do not degrade the quality of the environment by reason of their location, design, method of operation, or other means ….” O.C.G.A.