Judge tosses Pa. pollution suit against Reliant

PITTSBURGH - A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a pollution suit filed by two environmental groups who claimed a power plant was fouling a Western Pennsylvania river.

U.S. Magistrate Amy Reynolds Hay says in Tuesday's ruling that the Sierra Club and PennEnvironment couldn't prove that excessive discharge levels - which the plant acknowledged - caused the alleged damage to the Conemaugh River.

The groups sued Reliant Energy Inc. in 2007 because of discharges from its Conemaugh Generating Station in New Florence.

The environmentalists said the alleged discharge violations could hurt efforts to clean up the river, which has suffered from acid mine drainage and industrial pollution.

The judge agreed with Reliant that neither group was legally entitled to sue.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com