CCBW Asks EPA to Terminate Pilgrim's Pollution Permit

Despite a public outcry over the past year, U.S. EPA is still allowing Entergy operate the Pilgrim plant with a Clean Water Act permit that expired 18 yrs ago. Last year, EPA promised that it would issue a revised permit for public comment by Dec. 2013. EPA broke that promise.

Entergy’s Clean Water Act permit gives Entergy permission to use more than a half-billion gallons of water per day from Cape Cod Bay for its outdated once-through cooling system. The water is used to cool equipment and boil into steam, which runs Pilgrim’s turbines. The water is then discharged back into the Bay heated and contaminated. This process destroys marine resources, such as fish and plankton. EPA is supposed to update the permit every 5 yrs to ensure that the best available technology is being used; however the agency has not done its job.

Cape Cod Bay Watch (CCBW) recently asked EPA to retire Pilgrim’s Clean Water Act permit. In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, CCBW points out EPA’s broken promise to review Pilgrim’s permit by Dec. 2013, and that the 18-year delay is unacceptable. The Clean Water Act was never intended to let EPA grant a permanent right to Entergy to use public resources – the waters of Cape Cod Bay and its marine life – for private use, for as long as it wants. Instead of continuing to allow Pilgrim to operate with an expired permit, EPA should permanently retire the permit and require Pilgrim to find another way to cool equipment and operate its turbines.

Read the full letter and the press release.