By Matthew Bandyk

A public interest law firm told NRG Energy Inc. that it plans to file a lawsuit against the company for alleged "massive pollution" at three NRG-owned coal-fired power plants in Maryland.

The Chalk Point, Dickerson and Morgantown coal plants each exceeded their state permit-imposed annual limit on nitrogen discharges by several thousand pounds in 2010 and 2011, the law firm, Public Justice, contended in a Jan. 24 letter sent to NRG President and CEO David Crane and publicly released by the law firm on Jan. 28.

For example, under a state discharge permit issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment in 2009, the Chalk Point plant is limited to 329 pounds of nitrogen per year, according to Public Justice. In 2011, the plant began exceeding its annual nitrogen limit on Jan. 21, 2011, so that it violated that limit on that day and on each of the remaining 344 days that year, the letter said. Chalk Point's total cumulative nitrogen discharge in 2011 was 6,892.21 pounds, according to the letter.

In addition to these nitrogen discharges, the group also said the Dickerson plant is violating its phosphorus discharge limits.

At the time that these alleged violations occurred, the three plants in question were owned by GenOn Energy Inc. NRG acquired the three plants when it bought GenOn in 2012.

The notice gives NRG warning that Public Justice will file a lawsuit in 60 days. Public Justice, along with attorneys from the Columbia University School of Law Environmental Law Clinic, said they are willing to discuss "effective remedies" for the alleged violations in order to resolve the issues during the 60-day period.

NRG spokesman David Gaier, when reached for comment by email, said he had not yet reviewed the notice.

Public Justice is representing three environmental groups: Food & Water Watch, Potomac Riverkeeper and Patuxent Riverkeeper. The numbers showing the alleged permit violations came from monitoring reports that Food & Water Watch obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request.

The groups also believe that the documents show NRG is trying to offset these discharges by purchasing pollution credits from farms under a credit-swapping program created by the U.S. EPA's Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load, or TMDL, plan. Food & Water Watch has challenged the legality of water pollution trading in federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.

"NRG, one of the worst polluters in the Bay area, should never be allowed to cover up its illegal discharges by obtaining credits from agricultural operations, the other biggest offenders in terms of nutrient pollution," Public Justice attorney Jessica Culpepper said in a Jan. 28 statement. "What's happening at NRG with these three power plants underscores everything wrong with the Bay TMDL plan and makes a mockery of the Clean Water Act."

The documents also reveal that NRG allegedly has been trying to transfer pollution credits between the Dickerson and Morgantown plants in order to try to meet limits at the higher-polluting plant. But the approach failed, according to Scott Edwards, co-director of Food & Water Watch's Food & Justice project, because both plants violated their individual permits.

According to the Public Justice letter, the Dickerson plant violated its nitrogen limits by about 4,710 pounds in 2010, while Morgantown exceeded its limit by 7,370 pounds.

In addition, even if one plant is in compliance, Edwards said Food & Water Watch does not believe the Clean Water Act allows swapping credits between facilities. What matters is that each individual plant is complying with its permit, he contended. "Permits are created to protect local water quality. You can't just ignore those numbers without devastating local water quality," Edwards said.