Alabama's state environmental agency fined six coal-fired power plants $250,000 each on Friday, saying the plants' coal ash ponds are violating the state's clean water laws by contaminating groundwater.

Alabama Power operates five of the six plants cited, and faces $1.25 million in total fines.

Alabama Power Public Relations Director Amoi Geter said the company does not believe the amount of the penalty is warranted but the company plans to comply with the order, and was already planning to address groundwater contamination detected at those facilities.

"Based on evaluations to date, none of the results detected pose a risk to neighbors, nearby waterways or water sources," Geter said. "Also we have evaluated conditions at and around our ash facilities, and we have no indication of any effect on any source of water.

"Tests of river water taken above and below these plants did not indicate any effect to water quality when comparing the upstream and downstream samples."

ADEM cited groundwater testing data submitted by the utilities which showed contamination of groundwater with substances such as arsenic, lead, selenium, and beryllium. Arsenic was by far the largest and most common contaminant cited in the orders.

Environmental groups reacted to the enforcement actions, saying the fines were a "slap on the wrist," and that the groundwater test results validate arguments that coal ash contaminates groundwater and should be moved to lined landfills.

The enforcement orders also require the operators of the power plants to submit mitigation plans to monitor and prevent groundwater pollution stemming from the wet coal ash ponds, or risk facing additional enforcement actions.

The orders filed Friday by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management cited "on-going violations" of the Alabama Water Pollution Control Act and ADEM administrative code.

The orders direct the operator of each facility to pay $250,000 within 45 days.

Geter said fines and penalties are not paid by Alabama Power customers.

ADEM filed the six nearly identical orders Friday, stating that the coal ash ponds have released "unpermitted discharge of pollutants associated with ash pond wastewater."

The facilities cited are:

Alabama Power's E.C. Gaston plant in Wilsonville, Shelby County

Alabama Power's Greene County plant

Alabama Power's James H. Miller plant in Jefferson County

Alabama Power's James M. Barry plant in Mobile County

Alabama Power's William C. Gorgas plant in Walker County

PowerSouth Energy Cooperative's Charles R. Lowman Power Plant in Leroy

Mike Godfrey, Alabama Power's General Manager of Environmental Affairs, said the company self-reported the contaminated groundwater test results as required by federal coal ash rules enacted in 2015.

Godfrey said the company had already planned to increase groundwater monitoring stations to satisfy the existing federal rules, and that the groundwater monitoring measures required by ADEM's orders were already in the company's plans to comply with the federal regulations.

PowerSouth Communications Manager Baynard Ward said the utility had complied with its requirements to report groundwater testing results and would continue to work with ADEM on the issue.

"We do not agree with everything in the order, but our intent is to work cooperatively with ADEM to conduct further investigations and propose a plan to address any issues ADEM requires to be corrected," Ward said via email.

"We are confident we will identify a course of action going forward that will be protective of the environment, which will undergo regulatory and public participation processes and review prior to approval."

Friday was a key deadline under the EPA's coal ash rules for utilities to report groundwater testing results taken near coal ash ponds, and utilities across the country have reported elevated levels of contamination around coal ash sites, according to the Associated Press.

Coal combustion residuals, commonly called coal ash, are the remnants leftover after burning coal for electricity. They contain known harmful substances such as lead, arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals.

For decades coal fired power plants disposed of this material by sluicing the ash and the residue collected in pollution control devices into unlined ash ponds on the banks of rivers.

In most common ash pond designs, the large particulates settled to the bottom of the ponds and water flowed into the rivers directly. Environmental advocates have long been critical of the wet ash ponds as sources of groundwater contamination, as substances have been shown to enter groundwater.

There have also been major spills into rivers when earthen dams that hold back the impoundments have failed. The TVA Kingston disaster spilled 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash into the Emory River in Tennessee, and a 2014 spill into the Dan River in North Carolina impacted the river 70 miles downstream of the spill site.

The ash pond at the E.C. Gaston plant in Wilsonville is considered a "high hazard potential" dam because a breach would likely result in the loss of human life, in the nearby town.

Geter noted the high hazard potential designation was not a measure of the likelihood of a breach, but that there were structures nearby that could be impacted if a breach were to occur.

The Obama-era rules prompted most utilities to conclude that wet ash pond storage was no longer viable and most began transitions to dry handling and storage of coal ash.

The EPA rules provide two options for dealing with existing ash ponds. The less expensive approved option is called cover in place or close in place, in which the ash remains inside the ash pond, but is dewatered, with a liner placed over the top to prevent rainwater from reaching it.

Utilities in some states have chosen the more expensive option of excavating the wet ash and moving it to a lined landfill for disposal.

Environmental advocates say the "cover in place" option does not protect against Kingston-style disasters and would leave the ash material contaminating groundwater indefinitely.

In 2016, Alabama Power announced it would transition to dry storage of coal ash and close its ponds in place.

Godfrey said ADEM's enforcement order most likely would not impact those plans, and that all of Alabama Power's coal-fired plants are on schedule to switch to dry coal ash disposal by the end of 2018.

The ash pond at Alabama Power's Plant Gadsden has already been dewatered, consolidated and covered. Gadsden was the only Alabama Power coal plant that was not cited in the enforcement actions filed Friday. It converted to run on natural gas years ago, as did the Greene County plant.

Environmental group: Order is 'slap on the wrist'

Keith Johnston -- managing attorney of the Birmingham office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which deals extensively in coal ash issues -- said the enforcement actions levied against Alabama Power and PowerSouth amounted to a slap on the wrist.

"There is nothing ADEM's orders that require the clean-up these sources of pollution," Johnston said. "Cap-in-place does not work and is not an acceptable solution for Alabama.

"$250,000 for violations at each site are a slap on the wrist, and, more importantly, the pollution continues unabated."

The Southern Environmental Law Center headed a case in Tennessee in which a judge ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority to excavate a coal ash pond that was found to be contaminating groundwater.

TVA has appealed that order, and Alabama's Attorney General filed a brief supporting TVA's appeal.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper, another environmental advocacy group, said the penalties were "a small price to pay considering the severity of the coal ash problems at these plants."

Three of the coal-fired plants included in the enforcement actions are located in the Black Warrior River basin.

"This data indicates not just toxic pollutants at concerning levels, but also statistically significant increases of some of these pollutants around all three plants in the Black Warrior basin," Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke said in a prepared statement.

"Black Warrior Riverkeeper is poring through the voluminous record released today and will be evaluating the data, conclusions, and potential next steps."

Johnston said ADEM's enforcement actions show the importance of the EPA coal ash rules, which have recently been proposed for revision under the Trump administration.

"Alabama Power never would have released this information but for the 2015 coal ash rules, which EPA is now trying to water down," he said.

Johnston said the groundwater testing results confirm what the SELC has long argued: that coal ash ponds contaminate groundwater.

"Alabama Power's proposal to leave over 85 million cubic yards of coal ash in unlined pits at all six of its coal plants throughout the state does not stop or clean up pollution, nor does it protect the people of Alabama," Johnston said. "We urge ADEM to fill a large regulatory gap by developing strong state coal ash storage and disposal rules to better protect streams, lakes and rivers that Alabamians depend on and enjoy.

"ADEM now has all the more reason to do so."

*Updated at 2:27 p.m. with additional comments from Alabama Power and the Southern Environmental Law Center.

**Updated at 4:37 p.m. with comments from PowerSouth and Black Warrior Riverkeeper.