Coal ash is the hazardous waste that remains after coal is burned. Dumped into unlined ponds or mines, the toxins from coal ash readily leach into drinking water supplies.

Coal ash is the second largest industrial waste stream in America and is essentially unregulated.

The Little Blue Run coal ash impoundment, built in 1975, is the largest unlined coal ash pond in the United States, spanning two states and bordering a third. On the West Virginia side of the impoundment, the grounds of homes are inundated with coal ash-contaminated water.