May 4, 2023
Toxic Coal Ash in West Virginia: 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. West Virginia has 48 coal ash dumpsites.
West Virginia is one of the nation’s top coal ash-generating states, ranking fifth in ash production in 2020.
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.
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. After years of litigation and grassroots activism, the EPA will extend clean up requirements to hundreds of old coal ash dumps across the country when it issues new regulations in the spring of 2024.
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.
14 Federally Regulated Coal Ash Disposal Sites in West Virginia
West Virginia utilities operate 14 regulated coal ash ponds and landfills at seven plants that contain more than 163 million cubic yards of toxic waste.
Coal ash has caused significant groundwater contamination at all of West Virginia’s regulated dumpsites.
In addition, West Virginia coal ash dumps are some of the largest in the U.S.; six of the state’s 14 dump sites contain over 10 million cubic yards of toxic ash.
Despite the threat and harm caused to groundwater, West Virginia utilities have failed to initiate any effective site-wide cleanups to restore water resources despite the legal requirement to do so.
| Fort Martin | Maidsville | Monongahela Power | 1 landfill | Arsenic (x1), Boron (x2), Lithium (x1), Molybdenum (x1), Sulfate (x2) |
| Harrison | Haywood | Monongahela Power | 1 landfill | Arsenic (x2), Mercury (x1), Molybdenum (x4), Sulfate (x3) |
| John Amos | St. Albans | AEP | 2 unlined ponds, 1 landfill | Cobalt (x4), Molybdenum (x3) |
| Mitchell | Captina | AEP | 1 unlined pond, 1 landfill | Arsenic (x1), Boron (x6), Molybdenum (x2) |
| Mount Storm | Mount Storm | Dominion | 1 unlined pond, 2 landfills | Beryllium (x1), Cobalt (x8), Fluoride (x1), Molybdenum (x2) |
| Mountaineer | New Haven | AEP | 1 unlined pond, 1 landfill | Boron (x5), Lithium (x3), Molybdenum (x2), Sulfate (x2) |
| Pleasants Power | Willow Island | Allegheny Energy | 1 unlined pond, 1 landfill | Barium (x4), Lithium (x2), Radium 226+228 (x9) |
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 West Virginia and throughout the U.S., see Mapping the Coal Ash Contamination.
34 Unregulated Coal Ash Legacy Ponds and Inactive Landfills in West Virginia (ash dumps exempted from the 2015 Coal Ash Rule)
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, West Virginia hosts at least 34 unregulated inactive coal ash landfills and legacy ponds that escape federal regulation. Utilities created at least 34 unregulated inactive coal ash landfills and legacy ponds at 10 active and retired coal plants. 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.
| Albright | Albright | Monongahela Power | 2 | 2 | Yes – Industry data |
| Fort Martin | Maidsville | Monongahela Power | 0 | 2 | Yes – Industry data |
| Rivesville | Rivesville | Monongahela Power | 4 | 2 | Unknown – no data |
| Willow Island | Willow Island | Monongahela Power | 1 | 1 | Unknown – no data |
| Grant Town | Grant Town | American Bituminous Power | 5 | 3 | Unknown – no data |
| John E Amos | St. Albans | AEP | 0 | 1 | Yes – EPA damage case |
| Kammer | Moundsville | Ohio Power Co | 1 | 0 | Unknown – no data |
| Kanawha River | Glasgow | Appalachian Power Co | 4 | 0 | Unknown -- no data |
| Mount Storm | Mount Storm | Dominion | 0 | 2 | Yes —Industry data |
| Phillip Sporn | Graham Station | Appalachian Power Co | 3 | 1 | Unknown – no data |
Albright Plant's evidence of site contamination: Historical industry monitoring data are the basis of the finding of contamination. See Ashtracker.
Fort Martin's and Mount Storm's evidence of site contamination: Data derived from the utilities’ publicly accessible CCR Compliance Data and Information websites, and exceedances were calculated by Environmental Integrity Project.
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 West Virginia
- Poisonous Coverup: The Widespread Failure of the Power Industry to Clean Up Coal Ash Dumps (November 3, 2022)
- Short Film Released About American Dreams Turned Into Toxic Nightmare (October 17, 2014)
- Tr-Ash Talk: Living With Lies and Coal Ash (May 17, 2012)
- Tr-Ash Talk: Lessons Unlearned from Buffalo Creek Disaster (February 27, 2012)
- Tr-Ash Talk: W.V. Rep. McKinley Sells Out Constituents (June 16, 2011)
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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