Cleaning Up Coal Ash
For well over a century, power plants across the country have burned coal to generate electricity. And for just as long, leftover coal ash has been dumped in open, unlined pits near the power plant, usually located on a river or lake. Every year, U.S. power plants produce 130 million tons of coal ash, which is the second largest waste stream in the country after municipal garbage.
Coal ash concentrates the toxic heavy metals found in coal, including arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium. Stored in unlined, wet impoundments, coal ash has been leaking these toxics into our groundwater and surface waters for years. Sometimes these impoundments collapse — with disastrous results.
Yet government regulations for coal ash management are either non-existent or sparse, and there is little enforcement of the regulations that do exist. In North Carolina, this lack of oversight — and the complicity between state regulators, elected officials and Duke Energy — came to a boiling point in February 2014 when one of Duke’s coal ash impoundments spilled 39 million tons of ash into the Dan River.
Citizens living near North Carolina’s 33 coal ash impoundments — all of which have leaked — have fought for transparency from Duke and the state, and for cleanup of the pollution that threatens their property value, health and family. Their actions forced this issue into the headlines of news networks and to the forefront of environmental justice conversations in the United States.
Appalachian Voices stood with these communities as we worked for years to compel Duke Energy and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to excavate coal ash from all the North Carolina sites and dispose of it either in lined, dry landfills, away from waterways, or by recycling it for concrete or other uses, provided it’s done in a manner that protects public health and the environment.
On Jan. 2, 2020, North Carolina announced a historic settlement with one of the state’s most powerful corporations and polluters, Duke Energy. The settlement requires Duke to move nearly 80 million tons of toxic coal ash at six of its power plants to properly lined landfills onsite or recycle it.
Latest News
EPA guts landmark coal ash protections, conceding to industry pressure
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shared plans to weaken landmark coal ash protections, following a year of pressure from industry.
EPA moves to weaken long overdue coal ash protections
Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will delay deadlines to require utilities to inspect coal ash contamination and begin to clean up coal ash impoundments with a draft extension rule and companion proposal.
EPA announces rollback of decades’ worth of regulations
On March 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced what it called the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” a rollback of dozens of important environmental health protections that will put communities across the nation at risk and let polluters go wild.
Thousands urge EPA to regulate coal dust from trains polluting communities and waterways
Appalachian Voices submitted a letter signed by nearly 4,000 individuals urging the Trump administration’s newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lee Zeldin, to develop new protections from coal dust that blows off of trains, contaminating waterways and posing serious public health risks.
Statement on utilities’ request to roll back coal ash and greenhouse gas protections
If granted, Duke Energy and other utilities’ request to weaken coal ash and air pollution rules would harm hard-working families living near power plants.
In “Valley so Low,” an environmental disaster creates a crisis for cleanup workers – and restitution proves elusive
“Valley So Low” explores 15 years of harm to the workers who cleaned up the Kingston Coal Ash Spill and their pursuit of justice.
