Appalachian Voices helped release a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice that identified 31 additional coal-ash contamination sites in 14 states with proven damage and pollution of groundwater, rivers, streams and/or wetlands. North Carolina leads the pack at six coal ash ponds that are leaking toxics into nearby waters. The report caused the Charlotte Observer to come out in favor of stronger state and federal standards for coal ash ponds.

The snippit below is from the Appalachian Voices’ Watauga Riverkeeper blog:

In hopes of encouraging the EPA to come out with overdue regulations on the handling of coal ash, EIP and Earth Justice with help from the Appalachian Voices Watauga Riverkeeper team released a report today illustrating the damages caused by 31 coal ash disposal sites across the country.

The report details 31 sites where major damage to surface water or groundwater has been documented. The pollution present in this waste is among the earth’s most harmful to aquatic life and humans – arsenic, lead, selenium, cadmium and other heavy metals, which cause cancer and crippling neurological damage. If these poisons can be kept out of the fish we eat, the water we drink, bathe in, and need to survive, simply through regulation, than we must take that long overdue step, not only for the sake of our public waters but for humanity’s sake as well.

Asheville Ash Pond and Nearby Homes

Coal Ash Moonscape at Belews Creek Steam Station

Read the rest of the blog post here.