Constellation Energy soon will be paying out $54 million to Gambrills residents and their attorneys after the power company’s coal fly ash left many wells undrinkable.
“The risks that the fly ash posed to the members of the community have been virtually eliminated,” said Hassan Murphy of the Murphy Firm, which filed a class action this past year against Constellation Energy that was settled Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court.
Constellation dumped tons of its fly ash, the by-product of coal combustion at power plants, into two former gravel mines in Gambrills as a way to dispose of the material and reclaim land.
But the liners failed several years ago, and dozens of wells around the pits were found to have high levels of metals that could cause cancer and other health problems.
Some wells have elevated levels of arsenic.
Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Alfred Nance approved the settlement, which was devised among Murphy, Peter Angelos’ law firm and Constellation in October.
The settlement creates a $10 million compensation fund for the 84 affected properties and will pay for property damage or physical harm caused by the fly ash pollution.
Residents have 120 days to file claims to receive compensation.
The settlement also provides public water connection to 79 properties, which Constellation said would be done by 2010.
Constellation also must perform $10 million in environmental repairs at the dump site, though the power company has been required to do so under a Maryland Department of the Environment order. In that case, Constellation and the mining company had to pay $1 million.
The settlement also gives Murphy and Angelos $9 million in attorney fees.
Constellation also must stop dumping fly ash at the site, though the company has halted dumping since 2007. No new fly ash dump sites are allowed in Anne Arundel per a new county law passed this year.
“We see this as a constructive resolution that is beneficial to the residents … and confirms Constellation Energy’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Constellation spokeswoman Maureen Brown.
MDE recently finalized new regulations on dumping fly ash in the absence of stiff federal regulations, though Anne Arundel officials have been said the rules don’t go far enough to protect the residents.
Fly ash has become major news lately after a retaining wall near a Tennessee power plant broke this past week, releasing 2 million cubic yards of fly ash that buried 400 acres with 6-foot deep gray sludge.
“Both issues [in Maryland and Tennessee] demonstrate the risks fly ash poses to the community,” Murphy said. “Our case shows what the community can accomplish when you force the power companies to take accountability.”
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