A Jacksonville deep-water cargo terminal has handled more than 2 billion pounds of potentially toxic coal combustion ash since 2022, and now a conservation group says much of it ended up somewhere it never should have: the St. Johns River and the groundwater beneath nearby neighborhoods. St. Johns Riverkeeper filed a federal lawsuit against Keystone Terminal, alleging the company illegally discharged coal ash into the river and stored it in ways that contaminated groundwater near the site.
The suit, filed on August 19 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, was brought on behalf of St. Johns Riverkeeper by the Public Trust for Conservation, according to Action News Jax. Court records reviewed by PacerMonitor list the case as St. Johns Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Keystone Properties L.L.C., Case No. 3:26-cv-02157. The complaint asserts claims under Section 505 of the federal Clean Water Act and Section 7002 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, following a mandatory citizen suit notice period required before such cases can be filed.
John November, executive director and general counsel of the Public Trust for Conservation, said the groups notified Keystone more than three months before filing that they would go to court unless the violations were sufficiently addressed, per the same account. St. Johns Riverkeeper describes itself as a member-supported nonprofit advocacy organization for the St. Johns River and its watershed.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
According to the lawsuit, coal ash discharge exposes the St. Johns River and area residents to mercury, cadmium, lead, selenium and arsenic, per the groups’ representatives. The complaint further alleges that coal ash was stored in substantial amounts in unauthorized areas that were unlined and lacked adequate groundwater safeguards, the station’s report notes. Beyond the water discharge claims, St. Johns Riverkeeper alleges that Keystone Terminal’s outdoor storage lacked adequate dust-suppression controls, allowing fugitive heavy metal dust to blow into surrounding Jacksonville communities…