Environmental Matters

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Environmental Matters

Environmental Matters

Environmental Matters

Solid and Hazardous Waste

In 1999, the EPA proposed to add the 68th Street Dump in Baltimore, Maryland to the Superfund National Priorities List, which is its list of sites targeted for clean-up and enforcement, and sent a general notice letter to BGE and 19 other parties identifying them as potentially responsible parties at the site. In March 2004, we and other potentially responsible parties formed the 68th Street Coalition and entered into consent order negotiations with the EPA to investigate clean-up options for the site under the Superfund Alternative Sites Program. In May 2006, a settlement among the EPA and 19 of the potentially responsible parties, including BGE, with respect to investigation of the site became effective. The settlement requires the potentially responsible parties, over the course of several years, to identify contamination at the site and recommend clean-up options. BGE is indemnified by a wholly owned subsidiary of Constellation Energy for most of the costs related to this settlement and clean-up of the site. The potentially responsible parties submitted their investigation of the range of clean-up options in the first quarter of 2011. Although the investigation and options provided to the EPA are still subject to EPA review, we believe that the range of estimated clean-up costs to be allocated among all of the potentially responsible parties will be between approximately $50 million and $64 million depending on the clean-up option selected by the EPA. The EPA is expected to make a final selection of one of the alternatives in 2012. As the alternative to be selected by the EPA and the allocation of the clean-up costs among the potentially responsible parties is not yet known, we cannot provide an estimate of the range of our possible loss.

Air Quality

In January 2009, the EPA issued a notice of violation (NOV) to a subsidiary of Constellation Energy, as well as to the other owners and the operator of the Keystone coal-fired power plant in Shelocta, Pennsylvania. We hold a 20.99% interest in the Keystone plant. The NOV alleges that the plant performed various capital projects beginning in 1984 without complying with the new source review permitting requirements of the Clean Air Act. The EPA also contends that the alleged failure to comply with those requirements are continuing violations under the plant's air permits. The EPA could seek civil penalties under the Clean Air Act for the alleged violations.

        The owners and operator of the Keystone plant have investigated the allegations and had a meeting with the EPA where they provided the EPA with both legal and factual documentation to support their position that no violations have occurred. Since that time, the EPA has not requested any further meeting or otherwise acted on the allegations. We believe there are meritorious defenses to the allegations contained in the NOV. Because there are significant facts in dispute and this matter is only in the NOV stage, at this time we cannot estimate the range of possible loss or predict whether a proceeding will be commenced.

Water Quality

In October 2007, a subsidiary of Constellation Energy entered into a consent decree with the Maryland Department of the Environment relating to groundwater contamination at a third party facility that was licensed to accept fly ash, a byproduct generated by our coal-fired plants. The consent decree requires the payment of a $1.0 million penalty, remediation of groundwater contamination resulting from the ash placement operations at the site, replacement of drinking water supplies in the vicinity of the site, and monitoring of groundwater conditions. We recorded a liability in our Consolidated Balance Sheets of approximately $10.6 million, which includes the $1 million penalty and our estimate of probable costs to remediate contamination, replace drinking water supplies, monitor groundwater conditions, and otherwise comply with the consent decree. We have paid approximately $5.5 million of these costs as of September 30, 2011, resulting in a remaining liability at September 30, 2011 of $5.1 million. We estimate that it is reasonably possible that we could incur additional costs of up to approximately $10 million more than the liability that we accrued.

        In April 2007, PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club brought a Clean Water Act citizen suit against the operator of the Conemaugh power plant in Pennsylvania, seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief for alleged violations of Conemaugh's water permit. Throughout the relevant time period, the operator of the Conemaugh plant has been working closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to ensure that the facility operates in an environmentally sound manner, and does not cause any adverse environmental impacts. Pursuant to a consent order between PADEP and the operator, a variety of studies have been conducted and treatment facilities have been designed and have been built or are pending construction, all in order to comply with the stringent limits set out in Conemaugh's water permit. On March 21, 2011, the court entered a partial summary judgment in the plaintiffs' favor, declaring as a matter of law that discharges from the Conemaugh plant had violated the water permit. In June 2011, the parties agreed to settle the proceeding for an immaterial amount.

Insurance

We discuss our non-nuclear insurance programs in Note 12 of our 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K.