Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette
	Dan Donald walks among the Longhorn cows he and his wife, Anna May Moore, raise on their property in Racoon Township. They say they cannot sell the livestock because of the soot "event."

The morning after it happened, Dan Moore left his house to find his trucks almost black, as if a vandal had sprayed them with paint.

He checked his swimming pool. Black. So was everything else on the 49-acre Raccoon Township farm -- the house, the grass, the hay fields.

Mysterious gooey black rain had colored his universe.

Inside, he told his wife, Anna May, "You won't like what you see out there."

Three months after that July 22 "black rain-out event" at the FirstEnergy Generation Corp.'s Bruce Mansfield Plant in Shippingport, Mrs. Moore remains uncertain about the safety of living on her farm, with concerns about her 11 Texas longhorn cows and whether the damage to their property will ever be repaired. She says she was advised by Penn State University officials not to sell, butcher or eat livestock touched by the "rain-out" as a precaution.

Susan Bird, of Raccoon, said leaves and flowers still show black spots, especially the leaves of fruit trees. Outdoor furniture bears black stains that could not be removed.

"If you walk through the grass, you still get black on your shoes and socks," she said. "Isn't that scary?"

Ms. Bird said her property has experienced black rain about once a month since July 22, although those cases weren't as serious. She said people have evidence: Outdoor furniture cleaned after July 22 once again is speckled black.

Residents have been told that if they wear masks when mowing the lawn and wash their hands and face after going outdoors they should face no health problems.

"Wearing a mask when you are mowing a lawn, that's not normal. That's when the red flag went up," Lisa Graves Marcucci, of Jefferson Hills, an environmental activist who was involved in having independent tests done said a meeting Tuesday. "We are living human beings on the receiving end of deadly pollution."

Mark H. Durbin, FirstEnergy spokesman, said the company hired 20 contractors to clean up 350 private properties and two public parks. Contractors cut grass and disposed of clippings, mowed crop and hay fields, mulched the harvest, and power-washed houses, driveways, buildings and vehicles.

Donald C. Bluedorn II, a FirstEnergy attorney, told Shippingport Borough Council on Monday that the company reimbursed farmers for lost crops and bought the full harvest of honey from affected beekeepers.

But some people remain dissatisfied. They say their lives have been disrupted to the point that their wipers still blur their windshields because the sticky black rain has proved so difficult to remove.

"No one can answer my questions," Mrs. Moore said Tuesday after the meeting at the Shippingport Community Building. "Can I use my hay field next year? Will it be safe? Will I have to take responsibility for the damage?"

Wet coal powder
What fell from Beaver County skies the evening of July 22 seemed like special effects from a science-fiction movie.

FirstEnergy has scrubbers to clean dangerous gases from smokestack emissions at its 2,410-megawatt power plant, the largest electrical generator in the state.

But that Saturday evening, the company was washing two induced-draft fans while they were operating. The fans draw gases from the boiler where pulverized coal is burned, then blow the gases into a scrubber, where they're showered with a dolomite-lime solution to rid them of sulfur dioxide, particulates and heavy metals before sending them up the smokestack.

	Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette
	Anna Mae Moore of Racoon Township displays a chair showing oily damage done during a July "black rainout."

Washing soot from the giant fans while they were running never had posed a problem. But a series of unfortunate situations that day sent soot-laden water flying out the smokestack and raining down south and east of the plant. After the two-hour accident ended at 8:45 p.m., a five-square-mile area from Shippingport to Route 151 in Raccoon had been "crop-dusted" with "black rain-out."

That's how Mark A. Wayner, the state Department of Environmental Protection's air quality program manager for the southwest regional office, explained it.

Property, vehicles, roadways and people were almost covered with black closer to the plant and speckled with black as far as five miles south, in Raccoon.

Mr. Wayner loosely characterized the pollutant as wet pulverized coal that did not undergo complete combustion. The wet powder had an oily feel that made it difficult to remove from surfaces without water pressure and scrubbing.

Days after the accident, the DEP alerted FirstEnergy that it faced the maximum fine of $25,000. Mr. Wayner said he was awaiting a company response. "We do intend to penalize them for this," he said.

But three months afterward, concern remains about health impact, property damage and whether the DEP has fully investigated other violations at the power plant, including periodic "stack rain" events, during which a lime-based gray material falls from the sky. Mr. Wayner said stack rain is an occasional problem that creates more of a nuisance than a health risk. But the problem occurs more often at the Bruce Mansfield Plant than elsewhere.

"But they never had anything of the magnitude of what happened July 22," he said. "That was like the perfect storm."

Meeting on Tuesday
The company continues meeting with affected municipalities to explain how the black rain happened. The company will attend a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Raccoon municipal building.

During a meeting Monday, FirstEnergy officials vowed they no longer would wash fans while they are running. It's to the company's advantage to prevent such accidents.

But the company's explanations and efforts to compensate for damage has not gone far enough, some people said.

The Moores, who operate a towing service on McCleary Road, said power washers and scrub brushes that contractors used left their vehicles and swimming pool scratched and damaged.

Sharon Jones, of Raccoon, who lives a half-mile from the plant, said her family bought a swimming pool in July and used it for one week before the rain-out occurred. During cleanup, the pool was scratched. Its cover remains stained and its filter is ruined.

She said it would cost $4,736 to replace the pool, but that the company offered only to buy a new filter.

"The money we spent on the pool we just threw down the drain," Mrs. Jones said. "They even used my city water for the power washer, and they still have not reimbursed me for that."

She cannot eat or can pears and plums from her trees because of state advisories against eating any fruit or vegetables affected by the black rain.

"I will have to spend my money to get a lawyer," she said, noting her life has been on hold for three months. "Why should I have to go to the expense, time and aggravation for this?"

Mr. Wayner said the DEP had no legal way to force the company to clean up properties. But, he said, it's in the company's best interest to do whatever is necessary to avoid civil suits.

Mr. Durbin said negotiations with neighbors continue, with hopes of resolving all complaints.

"Some emotional issues come into play and we understand that," he said. "We're sorry the incident happened, but we moved quickly to address concerns that the residents have. We're still willing to talk and find out what the issues are."

Although the company said there were no restrictions on land use as a result of the accident, Mrs. Jones said she felt trapped by lack of information, concern and uncertainty.

"This is like a bad movie," she said.

Focus on health
The health impact of the black rain remains the focus of debate.

The black rain contained concentrations of heavy metals, including mercury, traces of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of them known carcinogens, and about 30 percent carbon soot, which posed a real cleanup challenge.

Despite FirstEnergy's assertions that there are no health effects, people who had their own tests done offered more dire predictions. They questioned why they have to wear masks and avoid the outdoors if the black rain was not a health hazard.

Charles Norris, a Denver hydrogeologist who analyzed the independent test results, said the soot contains arsenic levels exceeding all legal standards and mercury levels exceeding several standards. He criticized the DEP and FirstEnergy for failing to mention the existence of hydrocarbons, which could pose further health risks.

Mr. Wayner said the citizen group's test results were consistent with DEP and company findings, and that's why they recommended precautions.

But black-rain particulates are too large to cause respiratory problems, as would smaller particulates. Animals and wildlife will not suffer health effects from exposure, he said, noting that the state Department of Health reviewed results and found no long-term health problems.

"It's our goal to protect human health, and the initial results show no immediate concerns," Mr. Wayner said.

While dealing with black-rain aftermath, FirstEnergy continues working to resolve other violations.

The company signed a consent order and agreement Jan. 18, 2005, to rectify opacity violations, essentially a problem with the color of smokestack emissions. The plume should be pure white, reflecting nothing but water vapor. When any darker color is emitted, it creates "cosmetic" problems that also could indicate the presence of hazardous substances, Mr. Wayner said.

Under the consent order and agreement, the company is required to pay a $10,000 fine each month, and an additional $5,000 whenever its scrubbers are deactivated. The fines will continue until violations are resolved.

For now, FirstEnergy is upgrading its scrubbers on all three power units, but mainly to reduce stack rain. But the upgrade also could help reduce opacity violations.

"The scrubbers that were put into the Bruce Mansfield Plant were the earliest technology, and so we're doing upgrades that should be completed next year," Mr. Durbin said. "We're hopeful the advancements will resolve some of those problems."

Despite public criticisms, Mr. Wayner said, the company has been in general compliance with environmental regulations.

He said the DEP takes regular opacity readings of the smokestacks and acts when it sees violations. It also conducted tests throughout the community that show the plant is compliant.

He said he's aware of frustration, but disagreed with complaints that the DEP is more interested in protecting jobs than public health. Anyone with complaints should contact his state legislator, he said, to tighten environmental regulations.

"We investigate complaints in a timely manner, however long it takes, but we can't take action unless there is a violation of the regs," he said. "We pursue action if there are violations."