Boating in the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one of the largest and most significant corporate pollution settlements in the history of electric power and the law, Potomac Electric Power has agreed to pay more than $57 million to help mitigate contamination of the Anacostia River from its power plants.

We just received the press release about this from D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb on Tuesday, even though the Washington Post already carried a story about it.

PEPCO “has agreed to pay $47 million toward the clean-up of the Anacostia River and an additional $10 million in penalties to resolve our allegations of chronic, illegal, and intentional pollution … over many decades,” Schwalb says. “While PEPCO is the first party to take responsibility, it is not the only polluter of the river. This settlement paves the way to accountability for every responsible party and sends a clear signal that (his office) will continue to fight for environmental justice on behalf of District residents.”

The river is home to an abundance of beautiful, natural resources, he said, and the District “boasts the most green space of any major city and is home to two major rivers.”

But, as is too often the case, he said, communities east of the Anacostia River bore the brunt of PEPCO’s pollution, “with disproportionate health impacts on lower-income Black residents.”

The settlement with PEPCO represents a major step toward addressing pollution that has resulted in multi-generational health impacts, he said, “particularly in communities of color, and toward restoring the District’s most ecologically valuable watershed.”

“All District residents have the right to enjoy the natural treasures of our great city while living in safe and healthy neighborhoods,” he said.

The settlement will go to clean up the river and to address contamination at Pepco’s Buzzard Point power plant in Southwest Washington and its Benning Road facility in Northeast.

The Morgantown Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in unincorporated Newburg, Maryland, near Morgantown on the Potomac River south of Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

At Benning Road, which Pepco operated for more than a century before it was decommissioned in 2012, the utility released pollutants into groundwater. Its own investigation found petroleum and other chemicals. At Buzzard Point, the power company spilled or released petroleum and other chemicals into groundwater, sometimes intentionally. And the utility routinely discharged polluted groundwater from around 60,000 below-ground vaults and manholes that are part of its distribution system into the District’s waterways.

The city has spent around $35 million to investigate the extent of the damage, according to Schwalb, which includes Pepco’s discharge of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs — industrial chemicals banned more than 40 years ago that take decades to break down in the environment.

“Generations of District residents have never known what it’s like to have a clean, safe Anacostia River,” Schwalb said. “There is a tremendous amount of work to be done until the river and the surrounding communities are fully clear of dangerous pollutants. For decades, Pepco routinely discharged hazardous chemicals into soil, groundwater, and storm sewers, which fouled the Anacostia River, deprived us of the river’s many benefits, and endangered public health and safety.”

Pepco responded that its “unpermitted discharges of storm water” ended more than a decade ago and that the settlement will advance cleanup of District communities “who have been disproportionately impacted.”

A company statement said the settlement also reflects the utility’s commitments to clean up the river adjacent to its Benning Road facility, and to investigate and address any pollution related to its Buzzard Point site and distribution system vaults.

“We understand the importance of this work for the future of our communities. We don’t just work here, we live here,” the statement said. “We remain committed to continuing our work with the District as well as other local agencies and community groups to improve the overall health of the Anacostia River.”

Carmel Henry, vice president for the Washington NAACP, said the settlement was “a significant step towards addressing the generational health impacts on lower-income Black communities.” Residents of Anacostia and other “hot spots” in the District affected by contamination deserve restitution, she said.

“Race, class and socioeconomic status influence the health impacts of environmental toxins,” she added. “Releasing hazardous chemicals into the Anacostia River has had long-term disproportionate financial and health impacts on low-income, Black D.C. residents.”

The settlement was the latest development in a long legal fight between Pepco and the District over pollution, according to the Post. In 2011, the city and the utility entered into a consent decree in which Pepco agreed to evaluate conditions at its Benning Road plant and adjacent parts of the Anacostia.

The river’s health has improved in recent years. In 2018, the river received a passing “D” grade for overall water quality from the Anacostia Watershed Society, an environmental advocacy group, after failing every annual check for a decade.

Recently there have been setbacks. The river failed in 2022 and 2023, partly because of the presence of pollutants, according to the Watershed Society. Despite the failures, the city planned to legalize swimming in the river for one day this past July. But the event was canceled because of sewage overflow.

“While there is great progress in controlling threats to water quality such as sewage and industrial toxics, the Anacostia watershed continues to suffer from the historical loss of wetlands and forests that once protected our rivers and streams from excessive run-off, sediment, and pollution,” the watershed group’s annual state-of-the-river report said.

Dennis Chestnut, former executive director of the advocacy group Groundwork Anacostia River DC, said he was a lifetime resident of Ward 7. He could remember a time when pollution was visible in the river, he said. Although swimming isn’t happening yet, there is hope that it could soon.

“This is the beginning,” he said. “There is a lot more to come.”

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