Former EPA scientist taking power plant issues seriously

When tourists come to the Delaware beaches, clean air and water is not something many of them think about. It is seen more as a given that the air is pure and the water is clear. That’s one of the beauties of the area – right?

John Austin, retired Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chemist, had always worked around the area, and even inspected the state of Delaware in his duties as a field researcher and then as regulation manager in the agency, but many of the state’s environmental problems were news even to him when he retired to the area in 2004.

“I was the typical tourist,” he said. “I did not know of Delaware’s issues. You just think the beaches are clean. You enjoy your stay. You can never really understand the problems of a community when you are only here for a week or a weekend.”

Austin said his “big awakening” came after seeing a notice in the newspaper for a group that was having a meeting on the environment in Lewes, just after he retired and moved to the area permanently. He heard Dr. Nancy Feitchtl, a school principal, speak about the number of children who were being rushed to the emergency room because of asthma attacks.

“I came home after the meeting and Googled ‘asthma Delaware’ and soon found a survey that the Department of Health had done, and the numbers were 19 percent – or twice the national average.”

That group that ultimately became Citizens for Clean Power, and Austin continued to attend their meetings. The group now has somewhere between 150 and 300 members. Other members of its board include Bill and Kit Zak, Dr. Kim Furtado and other vocal clean air and water proponents.

At their meeting, they watched a short video produced by an acquaintance about the Indian River Power Plant, and they started to get active. They were part of a work group created by the state on mercury regulations, and since working with regulations had been part of Austin’s job description for years, he fit right in. Because of their group’s knowledge of the power plant and of the dangers of mercury emissions and other hazards it produces, they came prepared.

“Bill Zak and I showed up at the first state work group meeting with a PowerPoint,” he explained, “which I am sure the state didn’t anticipate.”

They continued to advocate in that capacity until the beginning of the BlueWater Wind wind-farm hearings, and Austin explained that their focus as a group shifted at that point to supporting BlueWater Wind and being an advocate for clean power, such as wind, in general. And that has been an educational process for people, he said.

“People don’t associate what you pay in your electric bill with what you pay your doctor,” he lamented.

He went on to explain that through his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and in his research, he has found – through state-supplied data – that in the immediate area of the power plant, heart attack, stroke, special-education needs and infant deaths are all occurring in Southeastern Sussex at higher rates than in neighboring towns. He has gone to write for sourcewatch.org, which tracks emissions of coal-powered power plants in the state, including Indian River, InVista in Seaford, Dover Energy Center and Edgemoor upstate.

“One of the things that non-government organizations can do is gather information,” he said. He has FOIAed everything from infant death data to cancer rates by zip code to heart disease and heart attack numbers, and, he said, “Unfortunately, they all overlay in Millsboro, Lewes, Rehoboth Beach. They are all elevated, as is Ocean View.”

Austin explained that, because of the way the wind blows, it is those towns that are disproportionately affected by air emissions. He also noted that there is only one air monitor in Sussex County, and it is in Seaford, a town west of the power plant.

There is good news, though.

The shutdown of Units 1, 2 and now 3 (by 2013) at the plant will, in theory, have positive impacts on the health of Sussex Countians. The downfall is that there will be three more years with little change to the pollution controls, in exchange for a complete shutdown instead of immediate changes over a longer period.

“There is a benefit of shutting down Unit 3, but it operating for three more years [without the pollution controls] does have adverse public health costs,” explained Austin. “Weren’t they going to do that anyway? And what do we gain?”

As a member of Citizens for Clean Power, the Sierra Club and the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Center for the Inland Bays, a supporter of Earth Justice and writer for sourcewatch.org, Austin has been outspoken on everything from clean-up and liners at the power plant’s ash dumps, to air emissions and groundwater testing, to supporting cleaner technologies. But does Austin feel as if his activism is getting us – tourists and locals alike – anywhere closer to clean air and clean water?

“I hope so,” he said. “Most people who work for the EPA do so because they feel as though they are making a difference. If I didn’t feel as if I could make a difference, I wouldn’t do it,” he said, adding, modestly, that there are people who have been at it much longer than he has who are “much more knowledgeable.”

“One significant thing is that Units 1, 2 and 3 would still be working,” if not for the activism of groups like Citizens for Clean Power,” he said. “It is only because of pressure and oversight from the community that more environmental controls are mandated.”

Austin said the “800-pound gorilla” that remains is what will happen in terms of clean-up at Burton’s Island, an old site near the plant that is no longer in use, but has years of coal ash stored. The site, in recent years, was found to be eroding into the nearby waters. The 2008 remediation study said more studies would be done by 2010, but it will likely be 2011 before those are complete. And those studies will provide the “hows” regarding clean-up of the site.

Ron Wuslich, secretary for the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Center for the Inland Bays, which, as a group, has been vocal regarding Burton Island clean-up efforts, as well as other environmental impacts for the county, offered respect and praise for Austin and what he offers to the group.

“John is a valuable member of the CIB Citizens Advisory Comitteee and its management committee. His knowledge obtained as a 30-year veteran of the EPA is invaluable in helping us to ‘restore and protect’ the inland bays. Even more important, perhaps, is his love of the bays and the environment in general.”

Austin suggested anyone interested in getting involved in any of the issues concerning Sussex County and Delaware talking to their state and federal representatives — by picking up the phone and writing letters.

“They do get read, surprisingly enough,” he said. “When enough voices raise an issue, the ground swell is usually addressed, and it gets a reaction that meets the need.”

For more information on the environmental issues surrounding the area’s coal-fired electricity generating plants, visit sourcewatch.org.

Editor’s Note: Indian River Power, LLC filed a permit with DNREC on Aug. 18 to “stabilize 4,863 linear feet of shoreline with rip-rap revetment etc. along Indian River and Island Creek at Burton Island.”