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.
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Coal ash: The next-door neighbor no one is talking about
There are millions and millions of tons of coal ash sitting in unlined ponds and pits right next to our waterways. And right now, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation are holding public hearings to gather community input on the future of that waste.
Learn more about the hazards of coal ash and TVA’s plans at July 30 community meeting
The Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices are co-hosting a community meeting in Kingston, Tennessee, on July 30 to discuss the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to manage and store the massive amounts of hazardous coal ash it is responsible for.
East Tennessee communities paid a high price to win federal protections from coal ash. Now the EPA is rolling them back.
Hundreds of communities across the country have been harmed by coal ash pollution, and each one has a story about its fight for protections from this nasty and harmful industrial waste.
Landmark Coal Ash Protections Under Attack
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eviscerate important, hard-won regulations on coal ash, a toxic waste left after burning coal for energy.
EPA wants to gut 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.
