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This NASA satellite image of North Carolina's coast shows water discolored by excess soils, sediments, decaying leaves, pollution and other debris after Hurricane Florence.
(Photo Courtesy of Joshua Stevens / NASA)
Article September 21, 2018

Hurricane Florence Brings Another Hog Waste Flood to North Carolina

Mixed in with the hurricane's floodwaters are the contents of huge pits filled with pig poop.

These North Carolina coal power plants and coal ash storage pits were flooded during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The flooding potential for Hurricane Florence is even higher and more widespread.
(Photo Courtesy of Waterkeeper Alliance)
Article September 17, 2018

Why Hurricane Florence Could Become a Public Health Crisis

In the path of the storm are giant pits filled with coal ash, lagoons swirling with hog manure, Superfund sites and industrial facilities stocked with toxic chemicals.

Coal ash spilled by Hurricane Florence coats a turtle in Cape Fear River, North Carolina. (Riverkeepers cleaned and released the turtle.)
(Pete Harrison / Earthjustice)
Article September 21, 2018

Along With Flooding, Hurricane Florence Unleashes Toxic Coal Ash

The coal industry dumped its toxic waste in the cheapest way possible. Now coal ash pits are leaking and spilling amid flooding from Hurricane Florence.

Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, at 7:15a.m. ET, Sept. 14, as a Category 1 storm. The GOES East satellite captured this geocolor image of the massive storm at 7:45a.m. ET, shortly after it moved ashore.
(NOAA)
Press Release September 14, 2018

Earthjustice Statement on Devastating Hurricane Florence

Earthjustice VP calls on federal gov’t and state to utilize all available resources to help communities

Map of smog air pollution by county in 2022. (Air Quality System Data / U.S. EPA)
feature November 29, 2023

What’s the state of smog pollution where you live?

Search by county to see the level of smog pollution in the air. Smog can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart and lung diseases.

Map of soot air pollution by county in 2022. (Air Quality System Data / U.S. EPA)
feature November 29, 2023

What’s the state of soot pollution where you live?

Search by county to see the level of soot pollution in the air. Soot causes death and serious health harms.

FirstEnergy's Little Blue Run coal ash impoundment, built in 1975 and containing coal ash from the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant, is the largest unlined coal ash pond in the United States, spanning Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
feature May 3, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash in Pennsylvania: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Pennsylvania is one of the nation’s top coal ash-generating states, with more than 67 coal ash dumpsites.

During Hurricane Florence, concentrated animal feeding operations like this one in Warsaw, North Carolina, flooded the surrounding community with hog waste.
(Justin Cook for Earthjustice)
Article January 9, 2019

The Storm Moved on, But North Carolina’s Hog Waste Didn’t

Earthjustice and our partners are working to prevent future hog waste floods in the area hit hardest by Hurricane Florence.

Speakers at the listening session held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2018.
(Martin do Nascimento / Earthjustice)
feature June 13, 2023

Guide to Preparing for Public Hearings on the Legacy CCR Rule

What to expect at EPA’s virtual and in-person hearings on the Legacy CCR Surface Impoundment Rule

Volunteers collect water samples, as miles of the Dan River in North Carolina were contaminated with toxic coal ash after the collapse of a coal ash impoundment at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station in 2014. (Appalachian Voices)
feature May 3, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash in North Carolina: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. North Carolina has 47 coal ash dumpsites.

Summer tomato harvest at Harlem Grown, an Earthjustice partner and New York City-based community organization working to increase access to and knowledge of healthful food.
(Sorangel Arlyn Liriano / Earthjustice)
feature October 28, 2022

Climate, Land, Food, Bodies

Alongside our partners, Earthjustice is working to reform the food and farming system, driving the transition from current industrial practices, which churn out unhealthy food and substantial quantities of pollution, to a new model that prioritizes the sustainable production of nutritious food.

Press Release November 18, 2021

Colorado Could Lead Nation in Fighting Air Pollution, But Isn’t

National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice call for improvements on Colorado’s regional haze plan to better protect air quality and public health

Toxic coal ash leaks from a breached pond at the L.V. Sutton Power Station outside Wilmington, North Carolina, following Hurricane Florence in Sept. 2018.
(Waterkeeper Alliance / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Press Release December 19, 2018

Utilities Admit Coal Plants in 22 States are Violating Federal and State Pollution Standards by Leaking Toxic Chemicals into Groundwater

Conservation groups seek a court order to stop new Trump rule from delaying closure of leaking toxic coal ash dumps

The aftermath from the coal ash spill after the dam collapsed at the Kingston Plant in Harriman, TN.
(United Mountain Defense)
Press Release October 22, 2018

Environmental Groups Challenge Trump Administration Coal Ash Rule Rollback in Court

In wake of recent court decision, EPA’s watering down of coal ash regulations on weak footing

Andrew Rehn of Prairie Rivers Network looks at toxic coal ash waste seepage on the shore of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in Illinois.
(ZBIGNIEW BZDAK / CHICAGO TRIBUNE / TNS VIA GETTY IMAGES)
Article February 6, 2020

In the Fight to Clean up Coal Ash, These States Are Making Progress

Our partners are working to enact coal ash cleanup legislation across the nation. Here are some locations where they’ve succeeded.

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in 2008.
(Dot Griffith / Appalachian Voice via United Mountain Defense)
Press Release July 2, 2019

Trump EPA Continues Attack on Coal Ash Protections with Polluter Welfare

The latest rollback removes the requirement for coal plants to set aside money for clean up of their toxic waste so the public doesn’t foot the bill

A couple in Dukeville, N.C., looks across a coal ash pond full of dead trees. North Carolina has ordered Duke Energy to close all its coal ash ponds in the state.
(Chuck Burton / AP)
Article April 8, 2019

What a Real Coal Ash Cleanup Looks Like

North Carolina has ordered Duke Energy to excavate and close all its coal ash ponds.

Do you know where your Thanksgiving turkey came from?
(Jason Doiy / Getty Images)
Article November 16, 2018

A Just Way to Put Food on the Table

From banning toxic nerve agent pesticides to protecting our farmworkers, Earthjustice remains committed to remaking our food system into one that nourishes and sustains life for all of us.