The Charles County Commissioners are very disappointed to learn that Mirant Mid-Atlantic, LLC, after much work on the project, made a corporate decision to use river water instead of recycled effluent to operate scrubbers being constructed at the Morgantown Generating Station.
The Commissioners have been negotiating and discussing this project with Mirant for more than two years.
“This is a huge water environmental recovery loss to the County,” said Commissioner President Wayne Cooper. “I think it was a win-win for the citizens as well as for Mirant because we would have been leaders in the State. This was the beginning, not only for Charles County and Southern Maryland, but also for the State to begin addressing future water needs. The Commissioners understand time is of the essence in this matter. We hope that Mirant will reconsider for our environmental future.”
With Mirant’s decision, the Commissioners remain concerned about Mirant’s ability to operate the plant without using groundwater in an emergency situation, even with the desalinization process in place.
Another concern is the concentrated discharge from the plant that will flow back into the river.
Mirant plans to use desalinization and reverse osmosis to operate the scrubbers in order to comply with the Maryland Healthy Air Act, which requires compliance by 2010.