RRI Energy, Inc. April 25, 2011

Steam Electric ELG Questionnaire Request for Extension RRI Energy

Orion Power Midwest LP

New Castle Power Plant

PO Box 325 West Pittsburg, PA 16160

Jezebele Alicea

U.S. Envi ronmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Mail Code: 4303T Washington, DC 20460 alicea.jezebele@epa.gov

BY ELECTRONIC MAIL

Dear Ms. Alicea:

On June 18, 2010

, RRI Energy, Inc . received the Steam Electric Questionnaire f or the New Castle

P lant, located in West Pittsburg , Pennsylvania. Orion Power Midwest is a subsidiary o f RRI Energy,

Inc. In total, RRI Energy has received the Steam Electric Questionnaire for 17 steam electric power plants, including all 11 of our coal

- f ired plants, located in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and 6 of our gas

fired plants, located in Pennsylvania, California, Mississippi and Florida.

The purpose of this letter is to request an extension of the due date for submittal of the questionnaire

for the N ew Castle Plant. The response to all portions of the questionnaire, except Part G, is due September 16, 2010 , 90 day s after receipt. Part G is due October 16, 2010

, 120 days after receipt. We hereby request an extension of the due date to December 15, 2 010, 180 days after receipt for all portions of the questionnaire. RRI Energy and the New Castle Plant are fully committed to compliance with the applicable information collection requirements and the associated deadlines, but it

is critically necessary t hat EPA approve this extension so that we can fully meet our legal obligations to supply the requested information.

As a merchant generator evolving in developing deregulated electricity markets , which has recently acquired these plants and a participant i n a major merger, RRI Energy has specific issues with regard to the availability of information and the availability of knowledgeable individuals to compile information and to prepare, review and QA/QC the questionnaires in the timeframe specified. The

op eration of these generating plants in the ope n market is our only business. RRI Energy is staff

constrained to supply the required data . Furthermore, the timing of the request conflicts with other

annual and semi

- annual reporting requirements, the burden of the questionnaire is far greater than EPA has estimated, and much of the requested information is not readily available

, if at all. These reasons for an extension of time to complete the ICR are described in detail below.Ms. Jezebele Alicea April 25, 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Page 2 of 4

**•** Merger and Reorganization

On A pril 11, 2010 RRI Energy and Mirant Corporation announced a merger which is expected to

close before the end of 2010. While the merger is pending, both Mirant and RRI Energy operate

as separate non

- affiliated merchant power providers. The ongoing activit ies associated with the pursuit of the merger and the preparation for the integration require a significant effort on internal resources. These preparations directly impact employee availability to provide information required for the questionnaire for RR I Energy

.

**•** Independent Power Producer

– Staff Resources

Unlike, for example, a vertically integrated public utility with a substantial corporate environmental, engineering and accounting staff, our workforce is entirely dedicated to the safe and reliable op eration of RRI power producing facilities. We do not have a large pool of qualified staff to temporarily reassign to either support the ICR effort or to fill

- in while others are responding to the ICR. Thus the ICR represents another significant level of effort for staff with other job responsibilities.

**•** Independent Power Producer

– Information Resources

As a merchant generator, RRI Energy has owned most of the current coal

- fired generating

facilities for less than 10 years. We a cquired the New Castle Pla nt in May of 2002

. New Castle was original ly a Penn Power generating station and then through merger, became a FirstEnergy facility. The plant was then briefly owned by Duquesne Light as part of an asset swap with FirstEnergy. Duquesne Light sold the New Castle Plant to Orion Power which in 2002 was purchased by Reliant Energy (later become RRI Energy). The availability of necessary records to respond to the ICR is significantly hampered by these numerous ownership changes. Such records, if they e xist may likely be archived off

- site. This means intensive manual searches of paper records in file cabinets or boxes to try to reconstruct ICR required information . It will also be extremely time

- consuming to capture all of the aspects in the ICR

.

**•** Informatio n May Not Be Available

Much of the requested information is not readily available if at all: The ICR contains many questions that require intensive record searches or otherwise impose significant burdens due to the age of the records. For example, severa l questions in Part C and Part D require respondents to estimate capital costs for ash handling systems and pond, impoundment and wastewater treatment systems that were installed since 2000

. As previously noted, the flux on asset ownership and the ongoing merger activities compound the difficulty in responding to prior costs.

**•** Reporting Effort

The burden of the ICR is far greater that EPA has estimated

. In particular, the ICR states that a previous water balance as provided in form 2C of an NPDES permit app lication may be used for the water balance, and merely updated by hand mark up to match the ICR terminology. This statement implies that only minor effort is needed to provide an adequate water balance, and reflects a very limited understanding of the com plexity of the task at hand. For example, one of the first items required is to indicate each steam electric generating unit with a block. Other unit processes that are referenced, such as ash handling systems, FGD systems and SCR systems are required to be included on the water balance and labeled to match the forms. These units areMs. Jezebele Alicea April 25, 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Page 3 of 4

frequently grouped, or not represented on NPDES water balance diagrams. In particular, the generating unit itself is frequently not part of the water balance diagram, frequent ly all units are shown in the aggregate. Flows are similarly combined, and may not be tracked in the detail required for the ICR.

M ost water balances contain neither the detail, nor the space required to include such detail with a hand markup and will requ ire significant updating. Updating water balance information and plant diagrams to meet the ICR labeling requirement alone represents a 40 to 80 hour tas k per plant to modify the existing water diagrams, due to the extensive detail requested by the ICR. W e estimate

at least another day per diagram r equired to conform or create acceptable diagrams.

**•** Reporting Deadline Conflicts

The timing of the questionnaire conflicts with our TRI annual reporting requirements , which are due July 1 st

Timing problems, such as increased paperwork burdens, are compounded for RRI due to the number of facilities that will be required to complete the ICR. The reporting burden for these plants is shared at the corporate level in several departments, which means that one or two individuals must bear the burden for all of the facilities. In particular, the parent financial information will vary among the reporting facilities and must be prepared by a limited corporate

financial staff. . The data collection that is required to complete the questionnaire requires experienced personnel who are in limited supply to gather such information. In the midst of semi

- annual reporting and corporate reorganization, our corporate staff is in short supply. The plant is currently in search of an Environmental professional to replace the incumbent who has already accepted and taken another position at a different plant. Given the pressing operating and compliance burdens on the facilities, there is limited or no reservoir of personnel to apply to preparing questionnaire responses.

The New Castle Plant will have quarterly emission reports due on July 30. This routine required data collection effort will task environmental and plant personnel at the same time as the ICR. For

New Castle we are rel ying on corporate support until we can replace our Environmental professional and then we w ill be immediately tasked with the semi

- annual reports due in July through September. These mandatory deadlines directly compete with the ICR for limited

technical r esources.

**•** 120 days for leachate collection is too short.

Analytical Method 1631 for mercury requires sample collection using the Method for Sampling Ambient Water for Determination of Trace Metals at EPA Water Quality Criteria Levels (Method 1669) also referred to as “clean hands/dirty hands”. RRI Energy must subcontract this sample collection and analysis. The per

- plant cost of this contracted sampling and analysis program may equal or exceed the EPA estimated total cost to respond to this ICR. We ha ve initiated the process of obtaining qualified vendors for leachate sampling and analysis; however, t here are a limited number of laboratories available to perform this work, and RRI Energy must compete with approximately 175 other plants to schedule this work. Not only are there contracting and sample collection backlog issues, but also the few laboratories that perform this work wil l not likely be

able to meet 30

- day turnaround. Based on the 30

- day turnaround, 14 days of rainfall data and 28 days of sa mpling, a total of 72 days are required to obtain the data after a laboratory is located andMs. Jezebele Alicea April 25, 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Page 4 of 4

the appropriate sampling locations are located. Allowing 1 week to determine the number of samples that will be needed, 1 week to prepare an RFP and locate qualif ied bidders, 2 weeks for bidding, 1 week to finalize a PO, and 1 week to mobilize (total of 42 days) requires 114 days. This leaves only 6 days to complete the data review, finalize the form and submit it. If there is any loss or damage to samples, or if the laboratories are overloaded and cannot meet standard turnaround, the schedule will not be met. Further, samples will be collected during the dry season

and there may be no leachate to collect. For these reasons the completion of Part G requirements mandates a minimum of at least 180 days, rather than 120 days.

**•** Site Specific Issues

New Ca stle Plant operates as a seasonally operated facility. As such we maintain a minimal crew. The ICR data collection effort coincides with peak generation season, wh en our resources are most heavily taxed.

As mentioned previously, the New Castle Environmental professional took another position at another plant earlier this year and a search is being conducted to replace this critical position on

the New Castle Plant staff. While conducting this candidate search, the plant has requested limited support from the corporate office.

In closing, I would like to reiterate that RRI Energy and the New Castle Plant are fully committed to compliance with the applicable informati on collection requirements and the associated deadlines, but it it critically necessary that EPA approve an extension so that we can fully meet our legal obligations pursuant to your information request. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Joe Dulovich General Manager

New Castle Plant

724

- 535

- 1810 jdulovich@rrienergy.com

Copies:

R. Smith

S. Frank

K. Whelan