Sludge-lords: Reports from Coal Plants Reveal Vast Quantities of Toxic Coal Ash in Newly-Documented Hazardous Ponds

Earthjustice reviewed first-ever inspection reports required by the Legacy Coal Ash Rule and found dangerous conditions across the country.

New federal safeguards require coal power plant owners to identify and inspect decades-old coal ash ponds for the first time this year. Earthjustice’s analysis of industry inspections at 46 locations reveals dangerous conditions, including vast quantities of toxic coal ash insecurely stored near popular rivers and streams and in contact with groundwater. Earthjustice also identified a significant number of former power plants that failed to file any reports, potentially in violation of the law.

Toxic coal ash is contaminating water at nearly every current and former coal plant site in the U.S. For nearly a decade, coal plants stalled and evaded the law requiring them to clean up toxic coal ash stored at their plants. In many places coal ash ponds are held back by earthen berms, which leak and may not be structurally sound. More than 94% of existing coal ash ponds have no liner to prevent them from leaking contaminants into groundwater.

Owners of former coal plants were required to publicly post inspection reports for so-called “legacy” coal ash ponds (surface impoundments at retired coal plants that did not receive waste after October 2015), which were previously excluded from federal coal ash regulations. Of an estimated 84 former power plant sites with legacy ponds, 46 publicly posted reports for the first time. Earthjustice reviewed these reports and found alarming evidence of numerous unsecured sites that threaten public safety and nearby rivers and lakes, many of which are popular fishing and swimming spots.

The initial 2015 Coal Ash Rule excluded older dump sites at both active and inactive power plants, which left approximately half of all coal ash in the U.S. — estimated to be more than 2 billon tons — wholly unregulated. Following a lawsuit by Earthjustice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Legacy Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) Surface Impoundment Rule (Legacy Coal Ash Rule) that extended monitoring and clean up requirements to old ash dumps at more than 300 plant locations in 41 states. The Legacy Coal Ash Rule requires owners of former and current coal-fired power plants to monitor and report on water contamination from older coal ash dumps for the first time (both ponds and landfills), extending critical safeguards to an almost unfathomable amount of toxic coal ash exempted from EPA’s 2015 Coal Ash Rule. The original rule covered 750 ash dumps at 303 coal plants. The 2024 Legacy Coal Ash Rule extends safeguards to an estimated 900 additional coal ash dumps.

Disclosing some of the most dangerous legacy coal ash ponds from the new inspection reports

Earthjustice’s survey of newly-identified legacy coal ash ponds reveals urgent threats, including unsecured areas that appear to have little security or maintenance. Individual coal ash dumps often exceed millions of cubic yards of toxic waste. The inspections display a gross disregard for public safety, as people who enter these toxic properties and adjacent waterways may have no idea they are on or near a hazardous dump site. Among the worst offenders:

The largest legacy pond reported by power companies is located at TVA’s Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Alabama and contains 21 million cubic yards of coal ash. TVA retired this troubled plant in October 2015, days before the effective date of the 2015 Coal Ash Rule. The timing of TVA’s closure guaranteed that their enormous toxic coal ash ponds would not be subject to those federal cleanup requirements. TVA likely has two more immense legacy coal ash ponds at Widows Creek; it filed for an extension of the deadline to determine whether those two ponds are also in contact with groundwater. If they are, this site may rank as the dirtiest in the nation. TVA’s ash ponds are leaking unsafe levels of heavy metals into a popular fishing reservoir next to the retired plant.

At the Morrow Power Plant in Michigan, an inspection report reveals that one third of the 56-acre legacy pond lies in open water or marsh in Morrow Lake, a recreational lake popular for fishing. There appears to be no containment or separation of the toxic coal ash from the lake. The inspection indicates that coal ash in the legacy pond is buried up to 20 feet deep beneath the marsh and water.

Georgia Power shut down the 1756-MW Plant Branch in Milledgeville, GA just as the federal coal ash rule came into effect. Because the 2015 Coal Ash Rule did not apply to Plant Branch, the facility’s huge coal ash ponds initially escaped all federal regulation. The site has five legacy ponds, and coal ash has only been removed from the smallest of them. One of its legacy ponds is a high hazard pond — likely to cause loss of life in the event of a breach — containing 10.9 million cubic yards of coal ash at a depth of up to 62 feet. Plant Branch’s coal ash ponds are contaminating groundwater with heavy metals, including cobalt levels up to 50 times greater than health-based standards in one of the plant’s monitoring wells. Contaminated groundwater from Plant Branch drains to Lake Sinclair, a popular swimming, boating, and fishing lake southeast of Atlanta.

At AEP’s Glen Lyn Power Station in Giles, VA, 60-year-old unlined coal ash ponds contain nearly 7 million cubic yards of coal ash and sit next to the New River, a scenic American Heritage River. According to industry data, the ponds are leaking unsafe levels of arsenic, boron, cobalt, lead, manganese, molybdenum, strontium, and sulfate into groundwater, which is likely flowing into the treasured river.

AEP’s 19-acre legacy pond at the site of the Cabin Creek Power Plant (circa 1914) in Cabin Creek, WV sits on the bank of the Kanawha River. AEP’s inspection of this unsecured site revealed heavy foot traffic and evidence of camping on top of the pond. The pond is also very close to residential housing, but no wells are in place to monitor groundwater contamination.

AEP owns another legacy pond on the bank of the Kanawha River at the former Kanawha River Plant in Hansford, WV. This toxic pond spans 22 acres and holds more than a million cubic yards of coal ash. AEP’s inspection notes that the downstream slope of the pond is severely eroded. Ten photos included in the inspection report posted online document major erosion and contain the unprecedented directive from the industry contractor to “Please repair.”

Violating the Legacy Pond Rule, despite the danger

Earthjustice also discovered that dozens of coal plant owners may be ignoring requirements to identify and inspect their dangerous unlined legacy coal ash ponds. Critical reports are missing for dozens of retired coal plants for which EPA has evidence of legacy coal ash ponds, despite a deadline to report the ponds to the EPA, state regulators, and the public.

Earthjustice identified these potential legacy ponds hiding in plain sight whose owners have seemingly failed to comply with the new rule. Satellite photos of these sites show what appear to be legacy ponds, and a documented history of groundwater contamination at many of these sites further suggests the presence of toxic ponds.

For the following two retired coal plants, there is extensive documentation confirming the existence of legacy ponds, yet the owners have not posted reports or inspections:

• Tanners Creek Development, LLC, Tanners Creek, Lawrenceburg, IN: There may be as many as five large legacy ponds at the Tanners Creek site. The leaking ash pits at the retired plant are contaminating groundwater within 500 feet of public drinking water wells and the Ohio River with high levels of boron. The volume of these ponds is estimated to top 3.2 million cubic yards. The failure to clean up the toxic ponds threatens the community’s health as well as prospects for redevelopment of the blighted site.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watts Bar Fossil Plant, Rhea, TN: At TVA’s retired Watts Bar Power Fossil Plant, a 1.6-million-ton pond is leaking arsenic, cadmium, and cobalt into the Tennessee River. TVA admits that more than a third of the coal ash in the giant legacy pond may be saturated with groundwater and that the pond fails to meet federal structural stability standards. It is likely that there are additional legacy coal ash ponds at the site, as well.

Federal rules cannot protect our health and water if facility owners don’t comply with them. Coal companies have made it clear that they strongly oppose the EPA’s coal ash rules. Lee Zeldin hadn’t even been sworn in yet as head of the EPA when power companies sent him their wish list that would revoke and weaken critical requirements of the rules. Zeldin promptly pledged in March to delay implementation of critical Legacy Pond Rule requirements. The EPA then announced in March that it would cease enforcement of the coal ash regulations unless there is an “imminent threat” to health, an exceedingly high bar for a rule intended to prevent such harm. By the time a threat to human health is imminent, it’s too late for preventative action and eliminating the harm is much more complex and expensive. In fact, damage may be irreparable. Trump’s EPA thus summarily abandoned the EPA’s designation of coal ash as a national enforcement priority.

Identifying potential sludge-lords and calling for compliance

We are not powerless in the face of sludge-lords — owners who maintain neglected and deteriorating basins of toxic sludge. In May 2024, the Biden EPA provided a list of 148 potential legacy ponds. We looked at publicly available information, including satellite photos, EPA reports, and industry filings, and believe there is evidence that numerous sites may still contain toxic waste in legacy ponds, which the owners have not reported or inspected. You can search the Earthjustice map to view the potential ponds and adjacent communities and waterways.

Because EPA is highly unlikely to investigate these potential violations and enforce the Legacy Pond Rule, communities can ask their state environmental protection agency to determine whether these legacy ponds exist. If they do, residents should demand that the sludge-lords comply with federal law and clean up their festering mess.

Please also call for EPA to do its job and enforce its Coal Ash Rules!

Caroline Weinberg, senior research and policy analyst at Earthjustice, contributed to this post.