Clermont County filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, Sept. 24, alleging unlined coal ash ponds at the former W.C. Beckjord Station in New Richmond threaten the drinking water supply for 145,000 residents.

The county's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, names Duke Energy Beckjord, Duke Energy Ohio, Commercial Liability Partners (CLP), New Richmond Development Corp. (NRDC), Owlfly LLC and TBDA Investments LLC as defendants. The suit was brought under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), a federal law governing hazardous waste disposal.

The Beckjord property sits next to the Ohio River and uphill from the Pierce-Union-Batavia Townships well fields, which supply drinking water to roughly 145,000 Clermont County residents. The lawsuit alleges the site's unlined ash ponds allow groundwater to flow directly through coal combustion residuals, or CCRs, with no barrier to stop contaminants from reaching those wells.

CCRs can contain arsenic, lead, hexavalent chromium, mercury and other substances linked to cancer and neurological harm, according to the county's June 1 notice of intent to sue.

That June notice gave defendants 90 days to take remedial action. None did, the county said, prompting the lawsuit.

"We said we would act if the responsible parties did not, and we have kept that promise," Commissioner David Painter said. "The responsibility for addressing conditions at Beckjord … must fall on the parties responsible, not the residents of Clermont County."

Painter told WLWT that treated tap water remains safe to drink. The threat, he said, is to the county's raw water sources before treatment.

The ash pits sit roughly 1,000 feet from the county's primary drinking water wells, WCPO's I-Team reported in August 2026. That investigation also found one of two interceptor wells designed to protect drinking water from a migrating sulfate plume has been out of service since 2023. The county's own June notice alleged only a single interceptor well stands between the contaminants and the public water supply, with no backup if it fails.

A sulfate plume was first detected moving toward the well fields in 1998, FOX19 reported in June 2026. One of the county's 21 drinking water wells has already been shut down because of it.

Painter told WCPO in August 2026 that contamination of the wells could cost an estimated $30 million to remediate.

Duke Energy closed the Beckjord plant in 2014 and sold the 1,400-acre site four years later to Missouri-based CLP and its subsidiary, NRDC.

In a June 2 statement to FOX19 responding to the county's notice of intent, Duke Energy disputed the county's claims and said CLP and NRDC assumed all environmental liabilities in the 2018 sale. No updated Duke Energy statement responding to the Sept. 24 lawsuit was found in public records as of publication. FOX19 reported in June 2026 that CLP and NRDC did not respond to requests for comment at that time.

A separate federal lawsuit filed in 2020 by about 100 Pierce Township residents also targets CLP, according to WCPO. U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett reinstated those residents' claims for damages and cleanup in August 2026. A portion of the case is set for trial in November 2026.

The county's lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. No hearing date has been set.