May 4, 2023
Toxic Coal Ash in Texas: 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. Texas has 79 coal ash dumpsites.
Texas is the nation’s top coal ash-generating state, ranking first in ash production in 2020. Texas also had the third highest number of operational coal plant units in 2022.
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.
Industry’s own data indicate that across the country 91% of coal plants are currently polluting groundwater above federal health standards with toxic pollutants.
Coal ash remains one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams. U.S. coal plants continue to produce approximately 70 million tons every year.
Despite EPA’s 2015 Coal Ash Rule, which created the first-ever safeguards for coal ash disposal, many coal ash dumps remain 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 issued a proposed rule to address most of these exemptions on May 17, 2023.
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 make enforcement a priority and act quickly to ensure that utilities leave communities with sites that benefit rather than harm their health, environment, and economic status.
- EPA must swiftly strengthen the Coal Ash Rule to address the many legacy ponds and inactive landfills that are unregulated, and to prohibit coal ash used as fill unless protective measures are put in place, to ensure all Texas communities are protected from coal ash pollution.
51 Federally Regulated Coal Ash Disposal Sites in Texas
Texas utilities operate 51 federally regulated coal ash ponds and landfills containing more than 156 million cubic yards of toxic waste at 17 coal plants.
Texas is home to the most contaminated coal ash site in the U.S.
Groundwater is contaminated above federal safe standards at all Texas plants where data are available.
Despite the serious and widespread water contamination, no Texas plant, to date, has selected a final plan to adequately clean up groundwater, as required by state law.
| Big Brown | Fairfield | Luminant | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Boron (x2), Cobalt (x2), Selenium (x3) |
| Calaveras | San Antonio | CPS Energy | 5 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Beryllium (x4), Boron (x3), Cadmium (x2), Cobalt (x24), Lead (x1), Lithium (x2), Radium 226+228 (x1), Selenium (x4), Thallium (x1) |
| Coleto Creek | Fannin | Luminant | 2 unlined ponds | Boron (x4), Molybdenum (x3) |
| Fayette Power Project* | La Grange | Lower Colorado River Authority | 1 landfill | Lithium (x3), Sulfate (x3) |
| Gibbons Creek | Anderson | Texas Municipal Power Agency | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Antimony (x3), Arsenic (x1), Beryllium (x29), Boron (x5), Cadmium (x18), Cobalt (x97), Lead (x2), Lithium (x19), Mercury (x1), Radium 226+228 (x2), Sulfate (x6), Thallium (x4) |
| HW Pirkey | Hallsville | AEP | 2 unlined ponds, 2 landfills | Arsenic (x1), Beryllium (x2), Boron (x1), Cadmium (x1), Cobalt (x47), Lithium (x4), Mercury (x4), Radium 226+228 (x2), Sulfate (x2) |
| J Robert Welsh | Pittsburg | AEP | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x2), Beryllium (x3), Boron (x1), Cobalt (x133), Lead (x1), Lithium (x49), Radium 226+228 (x3), Sulfate (x10) |
| Limestone | Jewett | NRG | 1 unlined pond, 1 landfill | Boron (x3), Sulfate (x2) |
| Martin Lake | Tatum | Luminant | 4 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x1), Beryllium (x3), Boron (x11), Cobalt (x31), Lithium (x4), Mercury (x12), Sulfate (x4) |
| Monticello | Mt Pleasant | Luminant | 3 unlined ponds | Arsenic (x3), Beryllium (x8), Boron (x4), Cadmium (x4), Cobalt (x55), Lithium (x1), Selenium x2 |
| Oak Grove | Franklin | Luminant | 1 unlined pond, 2 lined ponds, 1 landfill | Chromium (x2), Cobalt (x4), Lithium (x3) |
| Oklaunion | Oklaunion | Oklaunion Industrial Park | 5 unlined ponds | Not evaluated |
| San Miguel | Christine | San Miguel Electric Co | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x8), Beryllium (x127), Boron (x41), Cadmium (x114), Cobalt (x488), Fluoride (x2), Lithium (x90), Mercury (x3), Radium 226+228 (x6), Selenium (x8), Sulfate (x20), Thallium (x4) |
| Sandow | Rockdale | Luminant | 1 landfill | Chromium (x2), Lithium (x13) |
| Sandy Creek | Reisel | Sandy Crk Energy A | 1 landfill | Arsenic (x2), Cobalt (x2), Lead (x2), Lithium (x19), Selenium (x3), Sulfate (x6) |
| Twin Oaks | Bremond | Major Oak Power | 1 landfill | Unsafe levels of radium, cobalt, arsenic, sulfate, lithium and thallium |
| WA Parish | Thompsons | NRG | 2 ponds, 1 landfill | Antimony (x2), Arsenic (x3), Lithium (x2), Sulfate (x3), Thallium (x1) |
* Fayette Power Project Plant operates inactive coal ash ponds at the facility but has not reported the ponds on its CCR Rule Compliance Data and Information website nor has the owner complied with the CCR rule’s requirements that apply to these ponds, including groundwater monitoring, closure, and corrective action.
Twin Oaks Plant's groundwater contamination: Based on industry monitoring data. See Ashtracker.
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 Texas, see Mapping the Coal Ash Contamination.
28 Unregulated Coal Ash Legacy Ponds and Inactive Landfills in Texas (ash dumps exempted from the 2015 Coal Ash Rule)
In addition, Texas hosts at least 28 unregulated inactive coal ash landfills and legacy ponds that escape federal regulation. The exact number remains unknown because utilities are not required to report these sites.
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.
| Big Brown | Fairfield | Luminant | 0 | 3 | Yes – Industry data |
| Coleto Creek | Fannin | Coleto Creek Power LP | 0 | 1 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Gibbons Creek | Anderson | Texas Municipal Power Agency | 0 | 1 | Yes – Industry data |
| Harrington | Amarillo | Southwestern Public Service Co | 2 | 2 | Unknown |
| JT Deely | San Antonio | City of San Antonio | 0 | 1 | Unknown |
| Martin Lake | Martin Lake | Luminant | 0 | 5 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Monticello | Mt Pleasant | Luminant | 0 | 3 | Yes – Industry data |
| Oak Grove | Franklin | Luminant | 0 | 2 | Yes – Industry data |
| Oklaunion | Oklaunion | West Texas Utilities | 0 | 1 | Unknown |
| San Miguel | Christine | San Miguel Electric Coop | 0 | 1 | Yes – Industry data |
| Sandow No 4 | Rockdale | Luminant | 0 | 5 | Yes – Industry data |
| Tolk | Muleshoe | Southwestern Public Service Co | 0 | 1 | Unknown |
“Industry data”: 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.
“EPA damage case” denotes a site where US EPA has found documented groundwater contamination from coal ash.
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.
For More Information
Christine Santillana, Legislative Counsel, Earthjustice, csantillana@earthjustice.org
Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel, Earthjustice, levans@earthjustice.org.
More on Coal Ash in Texas
- EPA Moves to Reject Six Coal Plants’ Applications to Keep Toxic Coal Ash Dumps Open (January 25, 2023)
- Poisonous Coverup: The Widespread Failure of the Power Industry to Clean Up Coal Ash Dumps (November 3, 2022)
- Records Show 100 Percent of Texas Coal Power Plants Contaminating Groundwater (January 16, 2019)
- Hurricanes Irma and Harvey Cast Spotlight on Toxic Threats in Our Midst (September 12, 2017)
Coal Ash in States, Territories, Regions
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.
Earthjustice’s Clean Energy Program uses the power of the law and the strength of partnership to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy.