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Natural gas well pads, pipelines, and other associated infrastructure in the Upper Green River Basin in Wyoming. Once home to pristine, clean air and very little industrial activity, emissions from oil and gas production in this area now lead to unhealthy levels of smog. (Ecoflight)
Press Release: Victory March 25, 2024

Court Rules 2022 Wyoming Oil and Gas Lease Sale Was Illegal

Wyoming sale was one of the largest oil and gas lease sales held on public lands

Andrew Rehn, right, of the Prairie Rivers Network and Lan Richart of Eco-Justice Collaborative paddle past toxic coal ash waste seepage on Illinois' Vermilion River in 2018. (Tribune Content Agency LLC / Alamy Stock Photo)
Press Release March 14, 2024

Appellate Court Affirms Illinois’ Strong Coal Ash Protections, Rejecting Coal Company Attacks

Community advocates urge Illinois EPA to swiftly enforce rules

In the News: Energy News Network March 12, 2024

Parsing legal definitions, power industry pushes back on EPA coal ash enforcement

Gavin Kearney, Deputy Managing Attorney, Clean Energy Program: “The whole overarching point (of the federal rules) is that groundwater contamination is a big problem; it’s really unsafe, and we have to prevent it. You can’t let water in (to a coal ash impoundment); you can’t let water out; you can’t let water just sit inside…

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008. One billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, covering 300 acres, destroying homes, poisoning rivers and contaminating coves and residential drinking waters.
(Photo courtesy of TVA)
Press Release November 3, 2022

New Report: Most Power Plants Violating Federal Rules Mandating Cleanup of Toxic Coal Ash Dumps

Seven years after EPA Coal Ash Rule, 96% of coal plants are not planning any treatment of contaminated groundwater

The San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels. South Texas Rancher Alonzo Peeler Jr. stands near land where all the vegetation has died, he believes because of contaminants leaking out of a coal ash waste pond behind this fence.
(Ari Phillips, Environmental Integrity Project)
Press Release March 4, 2019

First Comprehensive, National Study of Coal Ash Pollution Finds Widespread Groundwater Contamination

Power plant groundwater monitoring data reveals unsafe levels of toxic pollutants at 91% of 265 sites across United States, including in TX, NC, WY, PA, TN, MD, UT, MI and KY

Toxic coal ash leaks from a breached pond at the L.V. Sutton Power Station outside Wilmington, North Carolina, following Hurricane Florence in Sept. 2018.
(Waterkeeper Alliance / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Press Release December 19, 2018

Utilities Admit Coal Plants in 22 States are Violating Federal and State Pollution Standards by Leaking Toxic Chemicals into Groundwater

Conservation groups seek a court order to stop new Trump rule from delaying closure of leaking toxic coal ash dumps

The San Miguel Power Plant, the groundwater beneath a family ranch is contaminated with at least 12 pollutants leaking from coal ash dumps at concentrations more than 100 times above safe levels. South Texas Rancher Alonzo Peeler Jr. stands near land where all the vegetation has died, he believes because of contaminants leaking out of a coal ash waste pond behind this fence.
(Ari Phillips, Environmental Integrity Project)
Press Release January 16, 2019

Records Show 100 Percent of Texas Coal Power Plants Contaminating Groundwater

Utility data made public for the first time in 2018 document pollution of groundwater with toxic chemicals at all 16 Texas power plants where records are available

Plant Scherer in Juliette, in central Georgia, has a widespread cobalt contamination problem, with average levels in eight wells exceeding the health-based standard, in some cases by 20 times or more.
(Susan Inman / Altamaha Riverkeeper)
Press Release December 13, 2018

New Report Documents Widespread Groundwater Contamination at Georgia Coal Ash Dumpsites

11 of 12 of Georgia’s coal-fired power plants are leaking toxic pollutants into the groundwater

Linda Robles, founder of Environmental Justice Task Force, poses for a portrait in her home in Tucson, Ariz. (Mamta Popat for Earthjustice)
Article February 9, 2024

Her Family Moved to Escape This Deadly Chemical – But It Followed

The Biden administration may soon be finalizing a ban on trichloroethylene. Here’s what it is, who is at risk, and one family’s story after being exposed

Andrew Rehn looks at toxic coal ash waste seepage on the shore of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River.
(Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune / TNS via Getty Images)
Press Release November 27, 2018

New Report Reveals Severe Groundwater Contamination at Illinois Coal Ash Dumps

22 of 24 of Illinois’ reporting coal ash dumpsites have unsafe levels of toxic pollutants in the groundwater

In the News: Grist March 29, 2023

It’s not just oceans that are rising. Groundwater is, too.

Jenny Cassel, Attorney, Clean Energy Program, Earthjustice: “​​This is a very urgent issue, because the closure is required, the closure is happening. And in some places, it’s happening in ways that are not going to alleviate the problem.”

Toxic coal ash dust at the Making Money Having Fun Landfill in Bokoshe, OK.
(Photo used with permission)
Press Release February 7, 2018

New Industry Data Confirms Toxics are Polluting Groundwater at Coal Ash Dumps

EPA’s coal ash rule requires utilities to test groundwater — initial results are alarming

Equipment owned by Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc., used to mine cryptocurrencies and powered by the Scrubgrass Generating Plant near Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, in Venango County.
Press Release December 21, 2023

PA Enviro Groups File Appeal for Urgent Removal of Hazardous Coal Ash ‘Mountain’ at Scrubgrass Crypto Facility

Massive unauthorized coal ash ‘mountain,’ growing for years; PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) granted cryptomining polluter Scrubgrass a 4-year leash: toxic coal ash waste allowed to persist

A Duke Energy coal fired power plant
(Will Thomas / Flickr)
Press Release March 2, 2018

Groundwater Monitoring Reveals Widespread Radioactivity at Duke Energy Coal Plants​

Data shows high levels of radioactivity at 11 of 18 plants

feature November 3, 2022

Mapping the Coal Ash Contamination

746 coal ash units in 43 states and Puerto Rico have reported information in compliance with federal coal ash safeguards since 2015. Here’s what the data said.

Press Release: Victory January 25, 2023

EPA Moves to Reject Six Coal Plants’ Applications to Keep Toxic Coal Ash Dumps Open

EPA found that the six plants failed to prove that their coal ash ponds were not leaking and not contaminating groundwater

A South Texas rancher looks out over his family’s land that has been contaminated by pollutants from the San Miguel Electric Plant, in the background. (Ari Phillips / EIP)
feature May 4, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash in Texas: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Texas has 80 coal ash dumpsites.

A five-story pile of coal ash lies next to the AES-PR power plant in the southern town of Guayama, Puerto Rico. (Mabette Colón)
feature May 4, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash in Puerto Rico: The Hazardous Legacy of the AES-PR Coal Plant

Applied Energy Services continues to contaminate the air, soil, and water in Puerto Rico with toxic coal ash.