This ‘groundwater flow map’ was produced in 2022 and shows where underground water flows in relation to the power plant, the coal ash ponds (in orange) and the White River (running through the upper left corner). (Courtesy map)
MARTINSVILLE — The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) approved AES Indiana’s coal ash pond closure plan at the Eagle Valley Generating Station in Martinsville Jan. 10, despite repeated criticism from environmentalists who argue the plan is insufficient in ensuring the White River is protected from harmful contaminants.
The Eagle Valley site is now a natural gas powerplant, but was previously a coal-fired power plant from 1949 to 2016. In 2018, AES Indiana (formerly Indianapolis Power and Light) determined that arsenic, lithium, molybdenum and other potentially harmful chemicals commonly present in coal combustion residuals were present in the groundwater at the site in levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water stan...