"A half dozen coal-fired power plants in Georgia face tougher federal rules that could force them to spend millions of dollars, or even shut down some, to reduce heavy metal pollutants in the state’s rivers and ground water.

Original permits allowing higher levels of pollutants are long past their initial expiration dates. But Georgia Power and Georgia’s environmental regulator said the permits have been “administratively extended” — by as much as 12 years in one case — and remain in force.

In a joint letter to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division this week, the Sierra Club and other groups said the permits have expired and called on the state to replace them with new permits based on tougher water pollution limits that went into effect in January.

The groups said the permits for all of the state’s coal-fired plants are 4 to 12 years past original expiration dates. The permits are typically supposed to go through regulatory review and renewal every five years."

Russell Grantham reports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution March 31, 2016. [2]