Groups sue Mirant Mid-Atlantic over power plant - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Couryt in Baltimore, claims that the Chal Point Generating Plant operatedby Atlanta-based Mirant Mid-Atlantic has spewexd unacceptable levels of sulfur dioxide into the air hundredw of times without the appropriatew pollution controls required undere the federal Clean Air Act. A Mirant spokeswomanm said thecompany hasn’t been served with the lawsuir yet, and can’t comment on the The Environmental Integrity Project, a legal nonprofi t founded by former enforcement attorneys, and Brandes and Kline have filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chesapeake Climat Action Network and four residents, includinfg a married couple, Nanchy and Norton Dodge, who live seven miles away from the plangt on a 1,200-acre farm in Mechanicsville.
The Dodges “neecd to close windows, limit their time outdoors and/or cover theifr faces when they are outdoors to avoied the respiratory irritants and smelkl of the pollution from the Chalk PointPowet Plant,” the lawsuit reads. Of the other two residentzs suing Mirant, David Bookbinder lives in about 30 miles fromthe plant, and Chrixs Schmitthenner lives in Mechanicsville, 11 miles away, and worka five miles from the plant. The Environmental Integrity Project had sent Miranf a letter in January notifyiny of its intent to sue the power company this year.
The plaintiffs pointed to a Harvard University 2006 study that showed that such particulate matter pollution from the Chalk Point plant can have negativer effects on the health and respiratory systems of people livin ina 400-kilometer, or nearly radius of the plant. In their initial notificatiojn letter, the plaintiffs wrotes that EPA hourly data shows that two boilerx at the Chalk Pointf plant exceeded allowable levels of sulfu r dioxide emissions 591 timesin 2006, 726 timed in 2007 and 113 times in 2008. Miranft has said it’s launched a $1.6 billionn project to install scrubbers andother pollution-reducinyg equipment on its Chalk Point boileres by the beginning of 2010.