The EPA is considering plans for cleaning up legacy coal ash ponds. Tell them to make sure this toxic mess doesn t jeopardize our communities.
Amid this patchwork of farm fields fortified with gray matchstick forests sits two centuries worth of waste from the coal industry. Since the United States began burning coal on an industrial scale in the 19th century, upwards of 35 percent of the immolated material has fallen to the bottom of boilers as ash. That ash has then been removed, mixed with water, and placed in ponds and landfills. Over 3 billion tons of it now occupy more than 1,400 sites across the United States. According to the industry s own data, over 90 percent of these sites contaminate groundwater with almost two dozen heavy and radioactive metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, and radium at levels exceeding the EPA s health standards. A 2014 EPA study revealed that living next to a coal ash waste site increases one s risk of getting cancer from drinking grou