GenOn Energy - Environmental Record

Environmental Record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Reliant Energy as the 36th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 34 million pounds of toxic chemicals released into the air every year. Major pollutants indicated by the study include sulfuric and hydrochloric acid as well as manganese, chromium, and nickel compounds.

In December 2007, the US state of New Jersey sued Reliant Energy, claiming that emissions from a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant hurt the state's air quality. New Jersey claims emissions of smog and acid rain components sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from Reliant's Portland Generating Station in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, drift into its territory. The lawsuit also claims that Reliant violated the federal Clean Air Act by modifying and operating the plant without required pollution control equipment and construction permits.

Reliant Energy claims to have made efforts toward more environmentally safe practices through the use of renewable resources such as solar energy, wind power, landfill gas, and coal refuse.