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.
![se_coalash_graphic 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>](https://appvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/se_coalash_graphic.jpg)
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
Fighting Mountaintop Removal During the Obama Years
EPA finalizes long-awaited coal ash regulations
The day we’ve been waiting for has finally come. No, not Friday — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release its long-awaited coal ash rule. But, as expected, the EPA’s new rule does not go far enough to truly fix the major pollution problems associated with coal ash including contamination of waterways and drinking water supplies.
Exposed: Linking Human Health and the Environment
As an assortment of pollutants leach into our lives, the harmful effects continue to surface in public health. Read about the connections between human health and environmental concerns associated with energy, pesticides and climate change. This article is featured in an Appalachian Voices webinar
Breaking Boundaries: Contemporary Appalachian Art
No solid boundaries define the work of contemporary Appalachian artists. Some pull from the narratives and imagery embedded in the region’s landscape and culture, while others reject tradition and embrace globalized approaches to their work. Yet what unites all of these artists are the stories they each hold, waiting to be told.
Fighting Mountaintop Removal During the Obama Years
In 2009, representatives of the new Obama administration repeated that “the administration will do what the science calls for.” In Appalachia, the science calls for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Six years later, mountaintop removal is still happening.
Appalachia’s Health Checkup
For decades, residents of Appalachia have struggled with poor health and disproportionate rates of chronic disease. In the face of these challenges, efforts to bring medical care to those in need and foster healthier communities are growing.