Wyandotte Power Plant Named in Call for Federal Water Pollution Standards

Environmental groups will hold a press conference Thursday in River Rouge regarding coal-fired power plants including the Wyandotte Municipal Power Plant.

Representatives of the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, Food and Water Watch and the Clean Energy Now Coalition plan to discuss the need for strong federal standards limiting toxic water pollution from coal-fired power plants, according to a release from the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.

The press conference and a water sports demonstration will coincide with a new national report that highlights the need for strong national coal plant water pollution standards. The Wyandotte Municipal Power plant was named in the report released nationally on Tuesday.

The report, "Closing the Floodgates: How the Coal Industry is Poisoning Our Water and How We Can Stop It, was released by a coalition of environmental and clean water groups, including the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action.

"Existing guidelines written to limit toxics discharged from coal plants do not cover many of the worst pollutants such as those discharged in the Detroit River, and have not been updated in more than 30 years," according to the release.

The press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 25 at 1 Belanger Park Drive in River Rouge.

Rod Lesko, acting general manager of Wyandotte Municipal Services, said the Wyandotte Power Plant has burned mostly gas and not coal this year.

"Being a community-owned municipality we try to respect the environment as best we can," Lesko said. "We burned some coal and shredded tires. For most of the winter we didn't burn our coal fire unit at all...I think Wyandotte is one of the best municipalities around as far as coal-fired plants go."

*The above information was provided by the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign.