The state Department of Environmental Resources and Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. announced today (4/27) a first-of-its- kind voluntary agreement to investigate and clean up locations that may have been contaminated by the past operations of PP&L or its predecessor companies.
The agreement was announced at a Harrisburg news conference by DER Secretary James Seif and Frank Long, PP&L's executive vice president and chief operating officer.
"PP&L is pleased to be able to strike this partnership with the DER to work proactively and cooperatively with the agency to ensure a cleaner environment and to create the potential for economic development," Long said.
He said the agreement represents "another example of PP&L's commitment to conduct its business in an environmentally responsible manner."
DER heralded the agreement as a clear example of Gov. Ridge's new environmental philosophy.
"This agreement is a true partnership between government and industry to find mutually acceptable solutions to clean up the environment and promote economic development -- a partnership that uses common sense and cooperation in place of confrontation," Seif said.
Seif and Long noted that the sites aren't known to pose any imminent risk to human health or the environment. In most cases, the sites previously have been cleaned up to environmental standards that existed at the time. Since environmental standards have changed, PP&L will assess the sites to ensure they meet today's standards.
During the next 10 years, PP&L will investigate 134 sites. Sites found to be contaminated will be cleaned up by PP&L on a schedule based on the risk, if any, posed by the site. The agreement caps PP&L's annual spending at $5 million a year.
Sites in the agreement include 79 utility pole locations, 24 active substations, 21 decommissioned substations, and eight decommissioned power plants, a manufactured gas plant and a coal processing plant.
Long pointed out that the agreement will not only provide for a cleaner environment, but some of the properties could be made available once again for economic development.
"By checking these areas to see if there is a problem, we are helping to move the site towards economic reuse," Long said.
The agreement was developed by using a problem-solving approach that is very different from the traditional command-and-control relationship between government and industry. PP&L has been working with the DER on many of these locations for more than a decade, but this agreement brings them under one comprehensive umbrella where work can be prioritized and managed.
"Working on sites is not something new for PP&L," Long said. "But the approach in the past was always on a site-by-site basis. What this agreement does is take a comprehensive approach to these locations, prioritizing them based on potential risk, and allowing both PP&L and DER to focus their resources on cleanup efforts instead of excessive studies and legal and engineering fees."
PP&L has listed any location it owns that has the potential to have been contaminated based on either the type of operation that took place there, or a history of oil spills from electrical equipment at the site. Because a site is on the list doesn't mean it's contaminated.
Under terms of the agreement, all sites will be assessed to determine if contamination is present. Sites that are most likely to present a potential risk will be examined first.
Based on industry-wide data and past experience, PP&L and DER expect that about half of the sites already meet environmental standards and an investigation of the site will show that no remediation is needed.
The sites are located throughout PP&L's 29-county service territory in central and eastern Pennsylvania.