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.
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
A “strict proposal” that should be stronger
The N.C. Senate’s coal ash bill would put into law what Duke Energy has already committed to: cleaning up the most high-profile coal ash sites in the state. But in its current form, the proposal gives too much sway to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and a coal ash commission that has yet to be created.
Your comments needed to chart Virginia’s energy future
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order this month to create an energy council tasked with assisting in the development of a comprehensive energy strategy for Virginia. For those who would like to see robust investment in efficiency and renewables as part of this strategy, the task before us clear: make sure the energy council hears from us at every opportunity.
What does EPA’s carbon rule mean for your state?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced Clean Power Plan aims to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants nationwide. A new tool on the EPA’s website summarizes climate change impacts, current state actions to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and how the rule allows users to see how their state will be affected by the federal effort.
Take Action: Protect Appalachian Streams from Toxic Selenium
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is poised to loosen national recommended water quality standards for selenium, a toxic pollutant commonly released from mountaintop removal coal mines. You can stand up for streams in Appalachia by submitting comments urging the EPA to protect aquatic life and strengthen selenium standards.
On Capitol Hill, Appalachian citizens make the case against mountaintop removal
Last week, Appalachian Voices and Earthjustice teamed up with a group of Appalachian residents in Washington, D.C., to lobby members of the U.S. House of Representatives to cosponsor the Clean Water Protection Act, and discuss the importance of protecting clean water with the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Surface Mining.
Science-backed lawsuits protect clean water in Central Appalachia
A recent federal court decision found that conductivity released from mines violated clean water laws. Another case just filed in Virginia challenges the discharge of total dissolved solids from mines in watersheds already damaged by high levels of total dissolved solids. Both cases could result in stronger protections for Central Appalachian streams.
