Lisa Evans's Blog

August 29, 2018

Huge Win for Communities Threatened by Toxic Coal Pollution

A landmark court decision requires the EPA to significantly increase protections for more than 850 coal ash ponds.

July 19, 2017

Walking in Memphis—Just Feet Above a Coal Ash Cesspool

The groundwater beneath the Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-fired Allen Fossil Plant in southwest Memphis—only two miles from the city's drinking water supply—is contaminated with dangerously high amounts of arsenic and lead.

Residents of Memphis just learned about major groundwater contamination. Cities across America could be facing the same problem, but won’t know about it if the EPA gives in to utilities.

April 20, 2016

Will Fracking-Induced Earthquakes Cause the Next Coal Ash Disaster?

Fracking-induced earthquakes and unstable coal ash dams are a deadly combination.

April 14, 2016

Earthjustice Victory Offers New Hope for Communities Living with Coal Ash

A court has ordered the EPA to create financial assurance rules, providing hope to communities living near coal ash lagoons that companies will pay to clean up their toxic spills.

February 3, 2016

Coal Ash: A Civil Rights Issue

The EPA has a well-documented problem with allowing coal ash waste to pile up in low-income communities of color.

September 30, 2015

Feds Seek Informants on Duke's Spreading Coal Ash Threats

A coal ash spill on the Dan River in North Carolina in 2014.

Duke Energy, responsible for a massive coal ash spill in North Carolina last year, is finally opening up about pollution and structural problems at its other ash ponds nationwide, but the truth may need some more coaxing.

September 3, 2015

Coal Ash’s Unhealthy Glow

Scientists have found that coal ash has up to 10 times more naturally occurring radioactive materials than the parent coal it comes from.

A new study reveals dangerous radioactivity in coal ash, the toxic waste generated by burning coal for electricity.

July 21, 2015

Politics as Dirty as Coal Ash: House Bill Lets Polluters Off the Hook

The House of Representatives is voting on HR 1734, Rep. David McKinley’s (R- WV) sixth attempt at a coal ash bill that protects his largest campaign contributors while weakening critical health protections.

April 27, 2015

Trick or Tweak? What Congress Is Really Doing to New Rules on Coal Ash

These are the 1985 and 1978 coal ash ponds next to the retired Cape Fear coal plant near Moncure, NC.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved a 50-page bill that will gut the nation's first-ever federal standard for coal ash disposal.

March 24, 2015

Big Coal Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

The House Majority continues the dirty business of protecting polluters like the coal ash industry.

December 8, 2014

Five More Things You Need to Know About Coal Ash

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008.

Five things that the 60 Minutes investigation on coal ash didn't tell you.

November 18, 2014

New Report: Coal Ash Reuse Threatens Drinking Water Supplies

A bluff collapse near the Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin that sent coal ash and debris into Lake Michigan.

The use of coal ash as construction fill has contaminated water resources across the nation.

October 28, 2014

Will the EPA Coal Ash Rule Survive?

The White House has made it official: its review of the Environmental Protection Agency'scoal ash rule has begun.

October 9, 2014

Tr-Ash Talk: Duke Spends $10 Million to Clean Up Image, Not Coal Ash

Greenwash fund is just another spin cycle for Duke

September 29, 2014

More Coal Ash Disasters in Waiting

A coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008 destroyed or damaged two dozen nearby homes

EPA finds eight more dangerous coal ash ponds in poor condition

September 12, 2014

Industry's Coal Ash Claims are Bogus

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008.

Polluter arguments against coal ash regulations are disproved by their own data

July 31, 2014

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

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

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

February 24, 2014

NC Regulators Ding Duke for a Penny Per Toxic Ton

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

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

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

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.

January 30, 2014

Celebrating An Historic Agreement on Coal Ash

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

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?

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

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

“You have the right to safe drinking water in this country. They took that right away from us.”

Jan Nona, 1939–2014

November 26, 2013

Giving Thanks for the End of Catfish Stuffing

Five years ago, fish biologists scooped up a catfish full of toxic ash from the Kingston coal ash disaster.

November 6, 2013

Messed Up in Michigan

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.

October 30, 2013

A Spooky Premise

What if EPA’s coal ash rule doesn’t close unlined lagoons? Wet dumping is the cheapest way, in the short-term, to dispose of toxic coal ash—but it is also the most dangerous.

October 24, 2013

TVA Five Years Later—Lessons Not Learned

Attorney Lisa Evans visited Harriman, TN, five years after the nation's worst coal ash spill. After half a decade and more than a billion dollars, the visible ash is gone, but so is the entire neighborhood closest to the plant.

July 24, 2013

Absolutely NO on HR 2218

This week the House will vote on the “Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2013” (HR 2218) sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV). The bill ruthlessly guts longstanding public health and environmental protections of the nation’s decades-old statute protecting communities from solid and hazardous waste disposal. This shameless industry giveaway creates a giant loophole for the toxic waste generated by coal-fired power plants.

June 18, 2013

Strike Three: CRS Makes Key Call on McKinley’s Coal Ash Bill

In advance of an upcoming vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week, the nonpartisan think tank, Congressional Research Service (CRS), delivered a frank memorandu

June 7, 2013

Tr-Ash Talk: GOP Rushes to Quash Protections for Coal Ash

Reps. David McKinley (R-WV) and John Shimkus (R-IL) are on a mission to ram through an anti-public health, anti-public safety and anti-environmental coal ash bill.

May 2, 2013

Tr-Ash Talk: Danger in the Schoolyard

Recent sampling of paths constructed of coal ash near J.L. Wilkinson Elementary School in Middleburg, Florida reveal high levels of vanadium, a hazardous substance linked to cardiovascular disease and nervous system damage. Vanadium levels were up to seven times higher than levels deemed safe for residential soil by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

February 1, 2013

Tr-Ash Talk: Not In Our Drinking Water

Utility giant FirstEnergy Corp unveiled plans last week to barge 3 million tons of coal ash annually nearly 100 miles on the Monongahela and Ohio rivers for disposal in an unlined pit in LaBelle, PA. The ash comes from its Bruce Mansfield Power Station—one of the largest coal burning power plants in the U.S.

January 22, 2013

Tr-Ash Talk: Bullying the Messenger, Burying the Truth

The Congressional Research Service, the non-partisan research arm of the Library of Congress, drew anger from two legislators after it issued an unfavorable report on their coal ash bills (S. 3512 and H.R. 2273). Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) have aggressively pursued the CRS since early December, after it gave both bills a failing grade, finding their weaknesses “unprecedented” in environmental law.

January 15, 2013

Tr-Ash Talk: Is There Something In Missouri's Water?

In Missouri, rape apparently does not cause pregnancy, and it’s OK for children to eat coal ash.

When Missouri Republican Todd Akin said last August that “legitimate rape” rarely results in conception, the congressman caused quite a stir—and this offensive nonsense, broadcast coast to coast, likely cost him a Senate seat.

December 30, 2012

Landmark Mercury Decision is Jackson’s Legacy

During her four-year tenure as administrator of the EPA, Lisa Jackson was a true champion for public health and environmental justice.

December 18, 2012

Congressional 'Think Tank' Exposes Flaws of Coal Ash Bill

The Congressional Research Service, dubbed the U.S. Congress’ 'think tank', recently released an authoritative analysis of S.3512 and—to the dismay of the bill’s stalwart sponsors—it’s a bust.

November 28, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Legislating Disaster

In the aftermath of a major catastrophe, lawmakers and regulators should be held accountable to create new safety protocols to avert future disasters. Incidents like the Cuyahoga River catching fire and the Exxon Valdez oil spill prompted changes in how we protect our nation’s waters from industrial chemicals. The Buffalo Creek disaster in West Virginia in 1972 likewise prompted changes to the regulation of dams storing toxic materials.

September 27, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Puerto Rico Communities Seek Justice, Protection

Fed up with the illegal dumping of toxic waste in their communities, a group of concerned citizens from Guayama and Salinas, Puerto Rico, Comité Dialogo Ambiental (CDA), has drawn a line in the sand. CDA will take AES Corporation—theVirginia-based energy giant—to federal court unless it meets the group’s demands and stops the dangerous dumping of toxic waste from its Guayama power plant.

September 20, 2012

Waging War On Health And The Environment

Officially (but ironically) titled “Stop the War on Coal Act,” H.R. 3409 actually represents the House leadership’s own elaborate and well-funded war on longstanding protections of clean air and water enjoyed by all Americans.

September 14, 2012

Groups Across U.S. Unite Against Coal Ash Bill

Seeking protection from unsafe dumping practices, more than 300 public interest groups from 43 states, representing millions across the nation, sent a letter this week to the U.S. Senate opposing S. 3512, the “Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012.”

September 5, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: The High Price of Coal Ash Ponds

Each year millions of gallons of toxic chemicals flow into lakes, streams, rivers and bays from our nation’s “surface impoundments”—often referred to as “coal ash” ponds. The well-documented result is the death and mutation of fish and wildlife. Recently, two senior scientists examined the damage from those ponds and put a price on their immense harm.

August 28, 2012

Judge Holds TVA Liable For Kingston Disaster

In a stunning victory for victims of the 2008 Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash disaster, a federal judge in Knoxville, Tennessee ruled that TVA is responsible for damages caused by the massive spill.

August 2, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: A Dangerous Trojan Horse

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July 30, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: The Summer of Coal Ash

Summer on Capitol Hill has been a hot one—especially for coal ash. The 11th hour removal of a devastating coal ash provision tacked onto the federal transportation bill gave hope to thousands of communities that Congress would not turn its on public health and the environment. When the smoke cleared and President Obama signed a transportation bill

July 5, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: The Good And Bad Coal Ash News

(Note from Lisa Evans: Last week, we nearly lost the battle for Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

June 21, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Two Years is Too Long

Although the EPA’s proposed coal ash rule was published two years ago, a final rule is nowhere in sight. Two years is more than enough time for the EPA to decide on a set of reasonable, health-protective standards for the country’s second largest industrial waste.

April 20, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: The Coal Breath of Betrayal

The House’s embrace of David McKinley’s (R-WV) amendment and its attachment to the transportation bill is nothing short of a deadly betrayal of public health. This measure ensures that the nation’s dangerous and leaking coal ash ponds and landfills will continue to operate indefinitely without regulation or federal oversight. If it passes the Senate, it may be the most effective protection of Big Coal ever enacted by Congress.

April 4, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: It’s About Time

Today, 3 years after the largest toxic waste spill in U.S. history, 11 environmental and public health groups will file a lawsuit to force the Environmental Protection Agency to complete its rulemaking and finalize public health safeguards against coal ash pollution.

March 21, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: The Wait For Clean Water

Tomorrow is World Water Day and across the globe, the United Nations and many grassroots groups are holding events to highlight the importance of clean water to our health and global security.

March 14, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: “Charleston, We Have A Problem”

Has Rep.

March 7, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Risky Retirement

Across the country, communities near retiring coal plants are breathing collective sighs of relief. Closures, however, raise vexing questions about the millions of tons of toxic waste that may lie beneath the surface. Over decades, most plants have buried battleship-sized deposits of coal ash in landfills and lagoons near their plants. In the absence of federal mandates, utilities may leave behind a leaking legacy of deadly pollution, even after the belching stacks are long gone.

February 27, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Lessons Unlearned from Buffalo Creek Disaster

February 26, 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of the Buffalo Creek disaster—the “most destructive flood in West Virginia history,” which took 125 lives in Logan County, West Virginia, injured 1100, and left 4000 homeless.

February 22, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: $2 Billion Coal Ash Suit In Chesapeake

On Tuesday, Virginia attorney Ted G. Yoakam, representing nearly 400 people living near the Battlefield Golf Club in Chesapeake, refiled a lawsuit against Dominion Virginian Power, MJM Golf LLC (the owner of the golf course) and two additional parties involved in building the course, requesting more than $2 billion in damages.

February 15, 2012

Two-Headed Fish, Brought to You by Polluters

An Idaho stream is home to two-headed trout, thanks to selenium pollution, a common contaminant from phosphate mining, agriculture and—you guessed it—coal ash.

February 3, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Coal Numbers Don’t Add Up

The American Coal Ash Association is trying with might to mislead us.

August 24, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Shake, Rattle and Coal

The earthquake that yesterday rattled foundations along the eastern seaboard, shut down a nuclear power plant and cracked the Washington Monument also shook a great many dangerous coal ash dams, similar to the one that failed in Harriman, Tennessee almost three years ago.

June 22, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Coal Over Clean Water

Tomorrow morning, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will vote on a bill to eviscerate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate coal ash, introduced by Rep.

May 25, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Dumping On The Americas

The arrogance and disregard for public health of the Virginia-based power giant, AES Corporation, is stunning. In 2002, AES, one of the world’s largest power companies, built a coal-fired power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico without a solid waste landfill of any kind. Although the 450-MW power plant churns out almost 400,000 tons of toxic coal ash a year, AES has nowhere to safely dispose of the waste. Yet the situation is apparently working out just fine for AES.

May 18, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: EPA Delays Leave Americans at Risk

Yesterday, the U.S.

April 29, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Setting the Record Straight

Several House members and right-wing bloggers believed they struck gold after House members indulged in a bit of chicanery at an April 15th Environment and Energy subcommittee hearing on a bill to remove EPA’s authority to establish strong coal ash regulations. The ruse started when Rep. Cory Gardner (R, CO) excerpted a single sentence from a 242-page Regulatory Impact Analysis prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on its proposed rule to regulate disposal of coal ash.

April 27, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Deliberate and Dangerous Delay

News that the EPA may delay the coal ash rule until the end of 2012 or even 2013 will come as a bitter disappointment to communities across the United States. Many had faith in Administrator Jackson’s promise that this Administration would finally issue effective controls on toxic ash disposal in 2010.

March 28, 2011

Coal Ash Conundrum—The Biggest Loser?

The verdict is in. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turned a blind eye to coal ash reuse during the Bush Administration, and, in fact, the agency went a considerable way toward promoting reuses that were dangerous to human health and the environment.

March 14, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Reaching Beyond Rhetoric

“We all have a responsibility to ensure that the American people have facts and the truth in front of them, particularly when fictions are pushed by special interests with an investment in the outcome.” - EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in testimony before Congress on March 10 in response to false claims by Republicans and special interest groups concerning the reach and impact of proposed regulations.

March 8, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Under the Influence

When members of the House of Representatives return to their districts for April recess, many should be called to task for supporting a budget rider that would kill a coal ash rulemaking designed to protect the health, homes and livelihood of their constituents.

March 2, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Dam Shame

If you live in Indiana, it’s best not to live below one of the state’s 53 coal ash dams.

February 23, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: House Broken

Early Saturday morning, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the House budget bill that had nothing to do with trimming the federal deficit, but everything to do with sweetening the bottom line of the likes of Duke Energy, AEP, Ameren and Southern Company.

February 16, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: Riders In A Stormy Congress

The highwaymen of the 112th Congress are trying to take away the authority of the EPA and rob the will of the people on a variety of critical public health and environmental issues by attaching riders to the House budget bill (the Continuing Resolution). The spending legislation introduced by the House Appropriations Committee this week would not only slash billions of dollars from programs protecting public health by ensuring clean water and air, but it would also undo or block key environmental initiatives.

February 1, 2011

Tr-Ash Talk: EPA’s Blind Spot

(Barb Gottlieb of Physicians for Social Responsibility contributed to this report.)

To win the most important environmental fights of our time, it is going to take all of us.

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Lisa Evans's Blog