Published: March 10, 2009 11:45 pm      

Fly ash spills into Potomac River

NewPage completes cleanup

LUKE — Cleanup of 4,000 gallons of fly ash sludge that spilled into the Potomac River from a coal-burning power plant pipeline at the NewPage paper mill Sunday was completed within hours of the discovery of the leak, according to the NewPage public relations manager at Luke.

“The majority of the ash did not go into the river. The residual ash, a nonhazardous material, was removed from the river bank by Luke mill employees Monday within hours of the incident,” said Patsy Koontz.

Maryland Department of the Environment spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said the spill began at about 8 a.m. and continued until 6 a.m. Monday, when it was detected by NewPage employees during a daily inspection.

The damaged pipeline that crosses the river was taken out of service after a “dime-sized” hole was seen in the pipeline. Two other parallel pipelines continue to carry ash slurry from the mill’s coal-burning power plant to an ash storage lagoon some 800 feet away in Mineral County, W.Va.

The sludge contained high concentrations of selenium, sulfate, arsenic, iron or manganese, prompting concerns of an environmental threat.

“Obviously, fly ash is not something that one wants in the water,” said Harley Speir, a fisheries biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

The shutdown of the damaged pipeline did not affect mill operations, Koontz said.

The Luke mill’s average effluent of water and ash solution from the ash lagoon is 700 gallons per minute as permitted by the MDE. A leak in November involved 20 gallons of ash slurry and had occurred without negative impact to the river, Koontz said.

“The Luke mill’s ash lagoon has a good record of environmental performance, and the pipelines carrying the water/ash mixtures across the Potomac River are inspected on a daily basis,” said Koontz.

“The mixture of water and ash — a nonhazardous material — was occurring from a hole approximately one-half inch diameter in the pipeline.

“The slurry mixture was being released to the river at a rate of approximately five gallons per minute compared to a river flow of 300,000 gallons per minute. The water quality of the Potomac River was not negatively impacted as a result of this small leak,” said Koontz.

Koontz said the pH level of the ash slurry that was released was 8.0, which is within the pH limits of the mill’s discharge permit from the ash lagoon. Those acceptable pH limits are 6.5 to 8.5. The pH of the river was measured at 7.2.

Koontz said the mill will conduct a thorough inspection of the pipelines in addition to improving its preventative maintenance program to prevent future occurrences.