Charah Solutions Acquires Three GenOn Properties For Environmental Remediation And Redevelopment

Charah Solutions Inc CHRA, a Louisville, Kentucky-based provider of environmental services and byproduct sales to the power generation industry, is acquiring three Pennsylvania operations — the Cheswick Generating Station, the Lefever Ash Landfill and the Monarch Wastewater Treatment Facility — from GenOn Holdings LLC, a Houston-based power producer. The goal is sustainable environmental remediation and redevelopment of the properties. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

What Happened: A Charah subsidiary, Charah Environmental Redevelopment Group LLC (CERG), will take over the operations at the three properites.

The Cheswick Generating Station is a 565 MW coal-fired plant located outside of Pittsburgh and along the Allegheny River. CERG will be responsible for the shutdown and decommissioning of the coal power plant, the remediation of the two ash ponds and performing all environmental remediation and redevelopment work at the site.

The 182-acre Lefever Ash Landfill is located three miles northwest of the Cheswick Generating Station and provides disposal of coal combustion residuals and residual waste from the Cheswick Generating Station under an active solid waste permit. CERG will be responsible for the closure design, remediation closure work and post closure monitoring of the landfill.

The seven-acre Monarch Wastewater Treatment Facility is based in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County. CERG will be responsible for day-to-day management and operations and for compliance with all applicable environmental regulations.

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Why It Happened: This acquisition of the three properties is Charah's fifth major environmental risk transfer (ERT) project and the second major project with GenOn. Last July, it acquired GenOn's Ohio-based Avon Lake Generating Station and adjacent property, with the full transfer expected to occur in the first half of this year.

"Many utilities are experiencing an increased need to retire and decommission older or less economically viable generating assets while minimizing costs and maximizing the value of the assets and improving the environment," said Scott Sewell, Charah Solutions president and CEO. "Our unique scale to provide a single-source answer for large-scale, complex environmental solutions continues to be a compelling solution for our utility partners."

Photo: Cheswick Generating Station, courtesy of Group Against Smog and Pollution