Cleaning Up Coal Ash

TVA Kingston Coal Ash Spill. Photo courtesy of Dot Griffith photography.

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.

Learn information about specific coal ash impoundments in the South, including health threats and safety ratings on <a href="https://www.southeastcoalash.org/">Southeastcoalash.org</a>

Learn information about specific coal ash impoundments in the South, including health threats and safety ratings:

Additional Resources

Fact sheets, videos, links to academic research, and more

Sign Up to Act

Help us protect the health of our communities and waterways.

Latest News

Canaan Valley Cancels Plans for Commercial Logging

The manager of the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge cancelled plans to log 20 percent of the area after significant backlash to the proposal.

Read More
red wolf

Judge Refutes Trump Administration Decision on Red Wolf Conservation

The federal court’s decision prohibits the killing of critically endangered red wolves that roam off their refuge without proof that the wolf is a danger to humans or livestock.

Read More

Laying the Groundwork for Innovative Mine Reclamation Projects

A coalition of environmental groups including Appalachian Voices released a report in November detailing opportunities to give old mine lands new life.

Read More

Proposed Landfill at Oak Ridge Sparks Controversy

Residents near Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Reservation, which produced enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, are concerned about flooding and the release of radioactive wastewater at a proposed landfill.

Read More

West Virginia Drops Drinking Water Protections

A state legislative committee accepted an industry group’s last-minute amendment to state drinking water standards dictating safe pollutant levels.

Read More

Second Two-headed Snake Recently Found in Region

A Leslie County, Ky., couple found a rare two-headed snake in their yard, the second two-headed copperhead found in the region this year.

Read More