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
North Carolina sides with Duke Energy by appealing coal ash ruling
Duke Energy recently appealed a ruling that gave North Carolina authority to force the company to immediately clean up its coal ash pollution across the state. But why would the N.C. Environmental Management Commission join Duke and also appeal the decision? The answer likely has to do with who sits on the commission and how they were appointed.
America’s biggest bank moves away from mountaintop removal
Pressuring large investment banks to stop financing mountaintop removal has been a strategy of the nationwide movement to end the practice for years. Judging by the progress made by Rainforest Action Network, and other grassroots groups targeting the infamous “too big to fails,” that strategy is working.
Central Appalachian-focused James River Coal Company enters bankruptcy
This week, James River Coal Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court. Like Patriot Coal, which reemerged from bankruptcy in December, the Richmond, Va.-based company’s operations are concentrated in Central Appalachia and are located in some of the counties most economically vulnerable to coal’s downturn.
Rural Electric Co-ops Can Renew Community Spirit
Guest Contributor Brian Depew: The cooperative spirit that brought electric service to rural America represents the community-driven values of small towns. Today, more than 900 rural electric co-ops serve 42 million people in 47 states. Co-ops remain democratically controlled, run by elected customer-members. But they have drifted from their community-oriented mission.
Virginia Power Shifters intend to organize and win on climate
Building community and standing up to polluters with grassroots strength: these were among the themes of Virginia Power Shift, which took place in Richmond last weekend. Students worked tirelessly to involve campuses from all over the state, and delegations traveled from across Virginia to join in the hard work that constitutes this amazing young leaders’ summit.
McAuliffe can pave the way for a cleaner future for Virginia
In almost every campaign speech, Terry McAuliffe told the story of how he started a driveway-paving business in his neighborhood when he was 14 to earn money to help pay for his college education. Now Virginia’s 47th governor, McAuliffe should apply these values to his gubernatorial agenda and there’s no better place to start than by investing in a strong clean energy sector for the commonwealth.
