EPA v. FIRST ENERGY GENERATION CORPORATION

Case summary

Specifically, on November 10, 1999, EPA sent an information request to FirstEnergy in accordance with Section 114 of the CAA. This information request instructed FirstEnergy to submit information on the coal-fired boilers operating at their facilities (including coal consumption data, energy generation, capital improvements, etc.). This request was similar to other Section 114 requests sent to coal-fired power plants at the time. After numerous correspondence and conference calls, FirstEnergy refused to provide a complete response to EPA’s information request, stating that it would take “many employees, many months” to gather the requested documents. During the months of failed negotiation that followed, FirstEnergy attempted to fulfill our request by making all potentially responsive documents (stated as 300 boxes) available to EPA in a warehouse. In a February 25, 2000 letter, we stated that we are authorized under the CAA to obtain the requested documents and we do not have the resources to search through 300 boxes of unorganized files available in a warehouse to determine if they are responsive to our request. On June 14, 2000, we issued FirstEnergy a Finding of Violation (FOV) for failure to respond to our 1999 information request. On March 20, 2000, the Region referred this violation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for consideration. The Region is awaiting DOJ’s response and based on a recent court decision, plans to pursue this issue further. Based on recently discovered opacity violations at FirstEnergy’s Bayshore facility, the Region decided to review continuous emission monitoring and fuel usage data available online to determine if coal usage data shows any increase in heat input following a period of no operation (i.e., potential modification subject to PSD). Review of this data indicates a need for further investigation. We are limiting our investigation to the Bayshore, Lake Shore, East Lake and Ashtabula generating stations since these coal-fired power plants are coal-fired power plants not currently covered under any major Consent Decree. We are requesting data from the years 1999 to present since our original, 1999 information request should cover all prior years. We are issuing this Administrative Order (AO) in conjunction with the ‘supplemental’ information request to instruct FirstEnergy that they must respond to our original 1999 information request within a specified timeframe. This allows FirstEnergy one additional opportunity to respond to the 1999 request before we renew our referral to DOJ. This AO and supplemental 114 request are especially timely provided the December 18, 2007 Administrative Law Judge finding that a secondary aluminum producer should be held liable for failure to respond to a Section 114 request. In the Matter of Liston Brick Company of Corona, CAA-9-2005-0018, 2007 EPA ALJ Lexis 36, December 18, 2007.

Defendants (1)

• FIRST ENERGY GENERATION CORPORATIONNamed in settlement

Facilities (4)

• EASTLAKE SUBSTATION

  10 ERIE ROAD, EASTLAKE, OH, 44095

  Registry ID: 110000386332

• WALLEYE POWER, LLC, BAY SHORE PLANT

  4701 BAY SHORE ROAD, OREGON, OH, 436160000

  Registry ID: 110000384325

• CLEVELAND ELECTRIC ILLUMINATING CO., LAKE SHORE PLANT

  6800 SOUTH MARGINAL ROAD, CLEVELAND, OH, 44103

  Registry ID: 110000386500

• FIRSTENERGY GENERATION CORP., ASHTABULA PLANT

  2133 LAKE ROAD, ASHTABULA, OH, 440040000

  Registry ID: 110000385002

Statutes cited

• CAA 114 — Record keeping, Inspection, Information Request

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• FIRST ENERGY GENERATION CORPORATIONentered 2008-05-16

  Primary law: CAA

Timeline (2 milestones)

• 2008-05-16Final Order Issued
• 2008-07-11Enforcement Action Data Entered