Our Stories

The Latest by Lisa Evans

Senior Counsel

Toxic coal ash dust at the Making Money Having Fun Landfill in Bokoshe, OK.
July 31, 2014

Ash in Lungs: How Breathing Coal Ash is Hazardous to Your Health

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

Coal ash dust causes asthma attacks, lung disease, even cancer.

The toxic coal ash turned the Dan River gray for 20 miles east of the North Carolina border.
February 24, 2014

NC Regulators Ding Duke for a Penny Per Toxic Ton

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

Duke Energy’s $99,000 penalty was nothing—it’s like one of us, earning $50,000 a year, getting fined $1.90. Barely amounting to a library fine, this is no deterrent for the likes of Duke.

February 10, 2014

East of Eden: NC Toxic Coal Ash Spill Defies State Borders

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

Hellish coal ash mess in North Carolina is Virginia’s problem, too.

February 6, 2014

NC Coal Ash Spill Demonstrates Urgent Need to Close Ponds

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

The EPA doesn’t need yet another reason to require the safe closure of the nation’s 1,070 coal ash ponds. But the massive leak of 82,000 tons of toxic coal ash from Duke Energy’s Dan River Power Station this week should set off a siren to wake our sleeping regulators.

Moapa Band of Paiutes Tribal Chairman William Anderson holds a photo of the Reid Gardner Power Station.
January 30, 2014

Celebrating An Historic Agreement on Coal Ash

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

On January 29, 2014, the Department of Justice on behalf of the EPA lodged a consent decree with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that requires the EPA to publish a final rule addressing the disposal of coal ash by Dec. 19, 2014.

January 13, 2014

In West Virginia, Who Pays for Poisoning a River?

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

If the EPA had complied with the 1985 Superfund mandate, the chemical spill in West Virginia may never have occurred and Freedom Industries would be guaranteed to have the resources to clean up the mess

January 9, 2014

Kryptonite for Superfund

By Lisa Evans  /  Washington, D.C. Office

It’s a hustle of grand proportions and deadly consequences. The House of Representatives will vote today on H.R. 2279, a bill that guts Superfund—the law that requires industries to handle their hazardous waste safely and clean up their toxic spills.

December 2, 2013

In Remembrance: Jan Nona

By Lisa Evans  /  Washington, D.C. Office

“You have the right to safe drinking water in this country. They took that right away from us.” Jan Nona, 1939–2014 This Thanksgiving the world lost a great woman. With unequaled intelligence and tenacity, Jan Nona fought for clean water in her small Indiana town after toxic coal ash from the Northern Indiana Public Service …

November 26, 2013

Giving Thanks for the End of Catfish Stuffing

By Lisa Evans  /  Washington, D.C. Office

Five years ago, fish biologists scooped up a catfish full of toxic ash from the Kingston coal ash disaster. Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia brought us one step closer to ensuring such a disaster will never happen again. The court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must set federal …

November 6, 2013

Messed Up in Michigan

By Lisa Evans  /  Northeast Office

Clean Water Fund’s new report, Toxic Trash Exposed: Coal Ash Pollution in Michigan, reveals widespread damage from coal ash dumping in Michigan. The report discloses dozens of waterways and aquifers already poisoned and warns of statewide harm due to failure to impose reasonable safeguards on toxic dumping. Clean Water Action released Toxic Trash Exposed on …