Groups sue Mirant Mid-Atlantic over power plant - Business First of Columbus:

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The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in claims that the Chalk Point Generating Plany operatedby Atlanta-based Mirant Mid-Atlantic has spewe d unacceptable levels of sulfur dioxide into the air hundredsw of times without the appropriate pollution controles required under the federal Clean Air Act. A Mirant spokeswoman said thecompany hasn’t been served with the lawsuit yet, and can’t comment on the claims.
The Environmental Integrity Project, a legal nonprofit founde by formerenforcement attorneys, and Villari, Brandezs and Kline have filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Chesapeake Climate Actiom Network and four residents, including a married couple, Nancu and Norton Dodge, who live seven miles away from the plant on a 1,200-acr farm in Mechanicsville. The Dodgesa “need to close windows, limit their time outdoors and/or covert their faces when they are outdoors to avoix the respiratory irritants and smel of the pollution from the Chalm PointPower Plant,” the lawsuirt reads.
Of the other two residents suing Mirant, David Bookbinder lives in Accokeek, abougt 30 miles from the plant, and Chrizs Schmitthenner lives in Mechanicsville, 11 miles and works five miles from the plant. The Environmental Integrity Projectr had sent Mirant a letter in January notifying of its intenyt to sue the power companyythis year. The plaintiffse pointed to a Harvard University 2006 studh that showed that such particulate matter pollutioh from the Chalk Point plant can have negative effects on the healt h and respiratory systems of people living in a ornearly 250-mile, radius of the plant.
In thei initial notification letter, the plaintiffs wrotre that EPA hourly data shows that two boilerss at the Chalk Point plant exceeder allowable levels of sulfur dioxide emissions 591 timessin 2006, 726 times in 2007 and 113 times in 2008. Mirantf has said it’s launchefd a $1.6 billion project to install scrubbere andother pollution-reducing equipment on its Chal Point boilers by the beginning of 2010.