Louisville's Air Pollution Control District has fined Louisville Gas and Electric for several violations at the Cane Run Power Station in southwest Louisville.The Air Pollution Control District fined the company $24,000 for violations dating back to February. They include several instances of fugitive dust—when coal ash from the plant's landfill left the company's property. There were also 20 odor complaints, where residents reported smelling sulfur near the plant, and one instance of an equipment malfunction that sent brown smoke out the plant's smoke stack.LG&E spokeswoman Chris Whelan says the company has taken measures to control dust at the plant.“We’ve taken a considerable amount of steps,” she said. “We’ve done exterior watering, we’ve put up the dust screen, we’ve put up all kinds of additional initiatives that basically help us contain the dust at that area.”Residents living across the street from the plant have complained about dust for the past year. Recently, they’ve been videotaping dust clouds rising off the company’s landfill and crossing the property line. That video footage was referenced in several of the violation notices, helped provide the necessary proof for the violation.Air Pollution Control District spokesman Tom Nord says the APCD would like to see a plant-wide plan to control the dust. “This problem is apparently not going away, and we’re trying to get LG&E to fix it,” he said.The company must demonstrate compliance with the law by July 27, and many of the individual violations also require compliance plans, to ensure similar violations don't happen in the future. LG&E was fined $26,000 for similar violations in November, but eventually settled for a smaller fine.
