$3.75M Settlement Reached over Pennsylvania Coal Discharges

A power company will pay $3.75 million as part of a settlement for fouling a western Pennsylvania river with metal discharges from a coal-fired plant.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports GenOn Northeast Management Co. will pay $3.5 million to set up restoration and preservation projects along the Conemaugh River in Indiana County.

The settlement includes a $250,000 civil penalty to resolve the suit brought by environmental groups who sued the subsidiary of Houston-based GenOn Energy Inc. It also sets deadlines for ending the discharges.

A federal judge in March sided with the environmental groups who sued over the discharges of mercury, iron and other metals in 2007.

A GenOn spokesman told the Post-Gazette for Monday’s editions the company is anxious to put the matter behind it.