Health Risks from Unplanned-for Continued Operations of Merom Generating Station, Sullivan County, Indiana Hallador Power Co., LLC Ongoing Air, Water, and Solid Waste Violations

Environmental organizations are urging the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to intensify enforcement at the Merom Generating Station in Sullivan County. Originally slated for retirement in 2023, the coal-fired plant was sold to Hallador Power Co., LLC and is now expected to operate indefinitely, partly to meet the high energy demands of a cryptocurrency mining operation run by AboutBit, LLC. The letter details a history of permit violations, including illegal levels of ammonia and iron in wastewater, excessive air opacity, and groundwater contamination from coal ash landfills. The authors argue that the plant's continued operation poses significant health risks and call for stricter monitoring, compliance plans, and fines.

• The Merom Generating Station, a 1,080 MW coal-fired plant, was scheduled to retire in May 2023 but will now operate indefinitely as a merchant power plant after being sold to Hallador Power Company in February 2022.
• A cryptocurrency mining operation established by AboutBit, LLC in 2022 has created a large new energy demand that may keep the plant operating around the clock.
• The plant has repeatedly violated its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit between January 2022 and April 2023, reporting excessive levels of iron, total suspended solids (TSS), ammonia, and temperature in wastewater discharged into the Turtle Creek Reservoir.
• The facility has consistently violated air opacity limits throughout 2022 and has failed to collect required quality assured data for sulfur dioxide (SO2) and mercury (Hg) during numerous monitoring system malfunctions.
• Groundwater monitoring around the coal combustion residuals (CCR) landfills shows exceedances of state and federal standards for barium, chromium, cadmium, lead, sulfate, and fluoride, with significant increasing trends for boron, chloride, pH, sodium, and specific conductance.
• Two dangerous seeps have been observed at the site's coal ash landfills: one at the Area 2A landfill dating back to 2017 and another discovered in 2021 at the Area 1 landfill basin.

APA

Earthjustice (2023). Health Risks from Unplanned-for Continued Operations of Merom Generating Station, Sullivan County, Indiana Hallador Power Co., LLC Ongoing Air, Water, and Solid Waste Violations. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/joint-letter-to-idem-concerning-aboutbit-at-merom.pdf

Chicago

Earthjustice. Health Risks from Unplanned-for Continued Operations of Merom Generating Station, Sullivan County, Indiana Hallador Power Co., LLC Ongoing Air, Water, and Solid Waste Violations. 2023. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/joint-letter-to-idem-concerning-aboutbit-at-merom.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Health Risks from Unplanned-for Continued Operations of Merom Generating Station, Sullivan County, Indiana Hallador Power Co., LLC Ongoing Air, Water, and Solid Waste Violations |date=5 December 2023 |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/joint-letter-to-idem-concerning-aboutbit-at-merom.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2023health, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Health Risks from Unplanned-for Continued Operations of Merom Generating Station, Sullivan County, Indiana Hallador Power Co., LLC Ongoing Air, Water, and Solid Waste Violations}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2023}, month = dec, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/joint-letter-to-idem-concerning-aboutbit-at-merom.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }