NRG northeast region communication manager David Gaier says Portland resident Diane Hofner's contention that the Dunkirk NRG facility is polluting the area with the coal ash the plant produces is unsupported.
In fact, he says, none of the NRG plants located across the country is considered to be potentially hazardous.
Gaier said following the December, 2008 TVA accident where a coal ash sludge pond ruptured and spilled across 300 acres in east Tennessee, the federal Environmental Protection Agency reviewed 219 coal-fired facilities for hazards.
The NRG plant in Dunkirk was included in this review, he said.
"The EPA determined that the hazard potential at Dunkirk is none," he said, citing a chart that lists all of the NRG plants located across the country.
None of them was found to be potentially hazardous.
Furthermore, he said, "NRG doesn't advocate or takes any position on the use of coal ash as a winter traction agent. We've been asked periodically by highway authorities to donate bottom ash to use as a traction agent and we have done that, on occasion, otherwise, we landfill the ash in a safe and legal fashion."
Gaier's comments were generated by a recent discussion held at SUNY Fredonia where NRG representatives were invited to talk about environmental issues.
Hofner, who has been an outspoken opponent of the use of coal ash on town roads as a traction agent, was also invited to speak at the SUNY presentation.
She has formed an organization she calls CROP-PLUS, Concerned Residents of Portland and People Like Us, whose members support Hofner's position on abolishing coal ash use not only as a traction agent, but also in landfills and in the manufacture of cement products, wallboard, counter tops and floor carpeting.
Initially, she wanted Portland to stop the use of coal ash as a traction agent on town roads and through her efforts, has gotten the town to stop stock-piling the ash.
However, it is still used as a traction agent on the town's roads.
Hofner has expanded her efforts to have the coal ash use on area roads stopped completely.
She points to a Jan. 7 story in the New York Times which has a map that indicates the Dunkirk NRG site as being "potentially hazardous to human health."
She has been awarded a grant which she intends to use to test water and soils for contaminants that could be attributed to bottom ash and harmful to health and the environment.
Hofner has already had her own home's water source tested and found it to be fit for human consumption.
Portland Town Supervisor Dan Schrantz said the board decided to stop accepting the NRG bottom ash until the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency determine its safety.
"In December, we called a halt to hauling any more ash in to our stockpile, because we were told the regulatory agencies would be making a decision shortly on its beneficial use determination," he said.
At a special board meeting held to discuss the continued use of bottom ash, Schrantz read a letter from Kathleen Prather, a DEC Beneficial Use and Special Projects specialist with the Bureau of Solid Waste, Reduction and Recycling.
The letter noted the use of coal combustion bottom ash is allowed under current department regulation.
"Coal combustion bottom ash (CCBA) may be used as a traction agent on roadways, parking lots and other driving surfaces," Prather's letter stated.
She said further that this regulation does not require chemical analysis of CCBA when it is used as a traction agent.
Portland Highway Superintendent Chuck Kelley had several town roads, shoulders and yards tested anyway with these tests conducted by David J. Maille, a consultant with Brookside Laboratories, Inc. of Northeast, Pa.
In a report presented at the special board meeting, Maille pointed out that the metals found in the collected soils basically reflected contents that appear naturally in Portland's soil.
"It's pretty tame stuff," he said.
On the other hand, Hofner compares bottom ash to the health hazards associated with smoking and asbestos and intends to carry on her efforts to have its use banned.