May 3, 2023
Toxic Coal Ash in Indiana: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy
For decades, utilities disposed of coal ash — the hazardous substance left after burning coal for energy — by dumping it in unlined ponds and landfills. Indiana has 100 coal ash dumpsites, the largest number of coal ash dumps in any state.
One of the nation’s top coal ash-generating states, Indiana ranked second in ash production in 2020.
After years of litigation and grassroots activism, on Apr. 25, 2024, the EPA issued a new rule that will force power plants to finally clean up their toxic coal ash. The EPA extended federal monitoring and cleanup requirements to hundreds of previously excluded older coal ash landfills and ponds that have been leaking toxic pollution into groundwater.
Note: Coal ash dumpsites referenced as “unregulated” throughout this page now are likely subject to federal regulation under the final rulemaking.
Coal ash contains hazardous pollutants including arsenic, boron, cobalt, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury, molybdenum, radium, selenium, and other heavy metals, which have been linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and neurological harm. In 2023, the EPA acknowledged that coal ash is even more dangerous than previously thought, with levels of arsenic and radiation that pose cancer risks.
Industry’s own data indicate that across the country 91% of coal plants are currently polluting groundwater above federal health standards with toxic pollutants.
Despite EPA’s 2015 Coal Ash Rule, which created the first-ever safeguards for coal ash disposal, many coal ash dumps remained unregulated due to sweeping exemptions for legacy coal ash ponds and inactive landfills. The exempted coal ash dumps are sited disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color. The EPA extended clean up requirements to hundreds of old coal ash dumps across the country when it issued new regulations in the spring of 2024.
Coal ash remains one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams. U.S. coal plants continue to produce approximately 75 million tons every year.
In 2023, the EPA acknowledged widespread noncompliance with existing coal ash regulations and ramped up enforcement after designating coal ash a national enforcement priority.
Action Needed
The magnitude of harm from recklessly dumped toxic coal ash requires decisive action from federal and state regulators.
- Utilities must be required to comply with the law and immediately clean up their pollution.
- EPA and states must act quickly to ensure that utilities leave communities with sites that benefit rather than harm their health, environment, and economic status.
- EPA must take action to prohibit the use of coal ash as construction fill and make polluters clean up areas where ash was used as fill.
51 Regulated Coal Ash Disposal Sites in Indiana
Indiana has the most remaining operational coal plant units in the U.S. and some of the most contaminated coal ash sites.
Indiana utilities operate 51 federally regulated coal ash ponds and landfills containing more than 73.4 million cubic yards of toxic waste at 16 coal plants.
At all plants, groundwater is contaminated above federal safety standards, and the majority of Indiana coal plants rank in the top 25% of contaminated sites.
Despite significant water contamination, no Indiana plant to date has selected a final plan to clean up groundwater, as required by state and federal law.
| AB Brown | Mount Vernon | Vectren | 1 unlined pond, 1 lined pond, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x2), Boron (x7), Cobalt (x1), Lithium (x2), Molybdenum (x38), Sulfate (x28), Thallium (x1) |
| Bailly | Chesterton | NIPSCO | 4 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x8), Cadmium (x2), Lithium (x2), Molybdenum (x16), Thallium (x5) |
| Cayuga* | Cayuga | Duke Energy | 3 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x5), Boron (x5), Cobalt (x4), Lead (x4), Lithium (x11), Molybdenum (x45), Sulfate (x2) |
| Clifty Creek | Madison | Indiana-KY Electric Coop | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x7), Boron (x5), Lithium (x14), Molybdenum (x64), Sulfate (x2) |
| Eagle Valley* | Martinsville | IPL | 3 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x9), Boron (x4), Lithium (x3), Molybdenum (x6) |
| FB Culley | Newburgh | Vectren | 2 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x9), Boron (x27), Cobalt (x1), Lithium (x6), Molybdenum (x24), Sulfate (x3) |
| Gallagher* | New Albany | Duke Energy | 3 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x6), Boron (x11), Cobalt (x2), Lithium (x1), Molybdenum (x31), Sulfate (x1) |
| Gibson* | Owensville | Duke Energy | 4 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x10), Boron (x22), Cobalt (x3), Lithium (x24), Molybdenum (x35), Selenium (x2), Sulfate (x3) |
| Harding St.* | Indianapolis | IPL | 4 unlined ponds | Antimony (x2), Arsenic (x45), Boron (x21), Lithium (x13), Molybdenum (x18), Sulfate (x3) |
| Merom | Sullivan | Hallador Energy Company | 1 landfill | Fluoride (x1) |
| Michigan City* | Michigan City | NIPSCO | 2 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x4), Boron (x2), Selenium (x1), Thallium (x2) |
| Petersburg* | Petersburg | IPL | 3 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x6), Beryllium (x1), Boron (x18), Cadmium (x2), Cobalt (x65), Lithium (x51), Molybdenum (x64), Sulfate (x2), Thallium (x13) |
| RM Schahfer | Wheatfield | NIPSCO | 4 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x6), Boron (x17), Cobalt (x6), Fluoride (x10), Lithium (x7), Molybdenum (x76), Radium 226+228 (x2), Sulfate (x15) |
| Rockport | Rockport | AEP | 1 unlined pond, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x2), Boron (x13) |
| Wabash* | Terre Haute | Duke | 4 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x2), Boron (x25), Cobalt (x3), Lead (x1), Lithium (x5), Molybdenum (x39), Sulfate x3 |
| Whitewater Valley | Richmond | Richmond P& L | 1 unlined pond | Mercury (x6), Molybdenum (x3) |
* These plants operate inactive coal ash ponds at the facility but have not reported the ponds in their CCR Rule Compliance Data and Information website nor have the owners complied with the CCR rule’s requirements that apply to these ponds, including groundwater monitoring, closure, and corrective action.
All data on groundwater contamination from coal ash derived from the utilities’ publicly accessible CCR Compliance Data and Information websites, and exceedances were calculated by Environmental Integrity Project.
For more information on regulated coal ash sites in Indiana, see Mapping the Coal Ash Contamination.
49 Coal Ash Legacy Ponds and Inactive Landfills in Indiana
March 2024 Update: The table below underestimates the legacy units that may be regulated by EPA’s upcoming CCR Legacy Pond Rule. Additional legacy units at specific plants may be found in the national map, above.
In addition, Indiana hosts at least 49 inactive coal ash landfills and legacy ponds that escaped federal regulation. The exact number is unknown because utilities were not required to report these unregulated dumps.
At most of these sites, EPA has already determined that coal ash has contaminated groundwater, but there are no federal monitoring or cleanup requirements.
These dumps are almost certainly contaminating water and threatening health and the environment; however, monitoring data are not currently available for most unregulated sites.
As we anticipate EPA’s proposed rule on legacy ponds and unregulated landfills in May 2023, a concern remains that the agency will not address coal ash that was dumped off site or used as fill — as often occurred in Indiana.
| Bailly | Chesterton | NIPSCO | 0 | 2 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Breed | Fairbanks Twp | Indiana & MI Power Co | 0 | 1 | Unknown |
| Clifty Creek | Madison | Indiana-KY Electric Coop | 0 | 1 | Yes—EPA damage case |
| Dean H Mitchell | Gary | NIPSCO | 8 | 0 | Unknown |
| Edwardsport | Edwardsport | Duke Energy | 2 | 1 | Unknown |
| Frank E Ratts | Petersburg | Hoosier Energy R E C, Inc | 8 | 2 | Unknown |
| Gibson | Owensville | Duke Energy | 0 | 1 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Merom | Sullivan | Hallador Energy Company | 0 | 2 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Michigan City | Michigan City | NIPSCO | 0 | 1 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Noblesville | Hamilton Co | Duke Energy | 0 | 1 | Unknown |
| Gallagher | New Albany | Duke Energy | 0 | 11* | Yes – Industry data |
| State Line Energy | Hammond | State Line Energy LLC | 1 | 0 | Unknown – no data |
| Tanners Creek | Lawrenceburg | Tanners Creek Development LLC | 5 | 1 | Yes – in litigation |
| Warrick | Newburgh | So Indiana Gas & Elec. Co | 1 | 0 | Unknown – no data |
* In EPA’s 2010 Steam Electric Questionnaire, Duke identified 12 landfills at Gallagher, one of which aligns with the regulated unit, and provided no information on location or size of the other 11 units.
These data were developed by using EPA datasets relied upon in their 2007 and 2014 CCR risk assessments (Human and Ecological Risk Assessment of Coal Combustion Residuals) and comparing those datasets to the universe of regulated units.
“EPA damage case” denotes a site where US EPA has found documented groundwater contamination from coal ash.
For More Information
Christine Santillana, Legislative Counsel, Earthjustice, csantillana@earthjustice.org
Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel, Earthjustice, levans@earthjustice.org.
More on Coal Ash in Indiana
- Poisonous Coverup: The Widespread Failure of the Power Industry to Clean Up Coal Ash Dumps (November 3, 2022)
- Cleaning Up Coal Ash For Good: Resources and Recommendations (July 8, 2021)
- Other states are making utilities dig up toxic coal ash. Indiana is letting it sit there. (February 10, 2021)
- Secrets in the Ash (December 14, 2018)
- New Tests Reveal 15 out of 15 of Indiana’s Coal Ash Sites Are Leaking (August 17, 2018)
- Groups to Sue to Compel Duke Energy to Stop Withholding Required Toxic Waste Spill Safety Information (September 20, 2017)
- Duke Energy Violates National Coal Ash Rule by Hiding Critical Dam Safety Information (September 20, 2017)
Coal Ash in States, Territories, Regions
Puerto Rico (En Español)
Earthjustice fights in the courts for a long-term solution to the toxic menace of coal ash. And we act on behalf of dozens of clients and over 100 coalition partners to defeat legislative attempts to subvert federally enforceable safeguards of coal ash.
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