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A conversation about cleaning up coal ash contaminating groundwater across America.
feature June 6, 2019

Insider Briefing: Coal’s Poisonous Legacy

Earthjustice attorneys and our client and partner in litigation, Prairie River Network discuss cleaning up coal ash contaminating groundwater in Illinois and across America.

feature November 3, 2022

Mapping the Coal Ash Contamination

746 coal ash units in 43 states and Puerto Rico have reported information in compliance with federal coal ash safeguards since 2015. Here’s what the data said.

An oil refinery looms over the west side of Port Arthur, TX.
(Eric Kayne for Earthjustice)
feature April 27, 2018

A Disaster In The Making

A new report documents how people have been left in harm’s way, as the Trump administration attempts to block the Chemical Disaster Rule.

feature November 3, 2012

Coal Ash: Reports & Publications

Read reports and analysis from Earthjustice and our partners, which document the growing public health threat from coal ash, the hazardous waste that remains after coal is burned.

Press Release: Victory July 1, 2009

EPA: Kansas Coal Plant Needs New Permit

Federal agency agrees with Earthjustice, Sierra Club request

The devastating coal ash spill at Kingston, TN in December 2008. One billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, covering 300 acres, destroying homes, poisoning rivers and contaminating coves and residential drinking waters.
(Photo courtesy of TVA)
Press Release November 3, 2022

New Report: Most Power Plants Violating Federal Rules Mandating Cleanup of Toxic Coal Ash Dumps

Seven years after EPA Coal Ash Rule, 96% of coal plants are not planning any treatment of contaminated groundwater

A five-story pile of coal ash lies next to the AES-PR power plant in the southern town of Guayama, Puerto Rico. (Mabette Colón)
feature May 4, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash in Puerto Rico: The Hazardous Legacy of the AES-PR Coal Plant

Applied Energy Services continues to contaminate the air, soil, and water in Puerto Rico with toxic coal ash.

feature February 25, 2016

Powering The Future

In a conversation, Vice President of Litigation for Climate & Energy Abigail Dillen discusses important recent victories and Earthjustice’s plans to go all-in on clean energy.

The NIPSCO R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Indiana, in 2018. (Alex Garcia for Earthjustice)
feature May 4, 2023

Toxic Coal Ash Near the Great Lakes: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. There are 88 coal ash dumpsites within two miles of one of the Great Lakes.

The J. P. Pulliam Generating Station on Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 2017. (James G Brey / Getty Images)
feature May 4, 2023

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

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Wisconsin has 54 coal ash dumpsites.

The aftermath of the devastating coal ash spill at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant near Kingston, Tenn., in 2008. More than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge burst from a dam, sweeping away homes and contaminating two rivers. (Dot Griffith/ Appalachian Voice via United Mountain Defense)
feature May 4, 2023

Tennessee Valley Authority’s Toxic Coal Ash: Addressing Coal Plants’ Hazardous Legacy

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. The quasi-public utility, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), has a total of 56 coal ash dumpsites in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

“EPA is sentencing entire segments of the population to a poisoned death,” said Caroline Armijo (left) of N.C. Read her story, and those of Nicole Horseherder of Ariz., and Tom Sedor of Penn., in the special report, <a href="//earthjustice.org/lives"><em>Erasing Lives</em></a>.
(From left: Justin Cook for Earthjustice. Darcy Padilla. Chris Knight.)
feature May 13, 2021

Special Report: The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

Three Americans living near power plants share how they will be harmed by the gutting of the Mercury & Air Toxics Standards.

The now-closed Waukegan Generating Station, on the shore of Lake Michigan in Waukegan, Ill. The coal-fired power plant still has sizable coal ash ponds threatening the environment. (Jamie Kelter Davis for Earthjustice)
Press Release: Victory May 17, 2023

EPA Publishes Draft Rule to Expand Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash

Revisions to the rule address hundreds of legacy dumpsites previously excluded from safeguards

The aftermath of the devastating coal ash spill at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant near Kingston, Tenn., in 2008. More than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge burst from a dam, sweeping away homes and contaminating two rivers. (Dot Griffith/ Appalachian Voice via United Mountain Defense)
feature May 23, 2023

Coal Ash Contaminates Our Lives

Coal ash is what is left behind when power plants burn coal for energy, It is a toxic mix of carcinogens, neurotoxins, and other hazardous pollutants.

The now-closed Waukegan Generating Station, on the shore of Lake Michigan in Waukegan, Ill. The coal-fired power plant still has sizable coal ash ponds threatening the environment. (Jamie Kelter Davis for Earthjustice)
feature May 3, 2023

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

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Illinois has 76 coal ash dumpsites

Aerial view of a flooded coal ash pond at Plant McManus days after Hurricane Irma in 2017. Unknown amounts of coal ash spilled into Georgia’s Golden Isles during the storm. (Jen Hilburn)
feature May 3, 2023

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

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Georgia has 43 coal ash dumpsites.

The Ford Rouge River Plant in Dearborn, Mich., in 2009. (Aaron Lee Fineman / VWPics via Redux)
feature May 3, 2023

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

Coal ash is leaching unsafe levels of toxic pollutants into groundwater at 91% of coal plants. Michigan has 52 coal ash dumpsites.

Press Release: Victory January 25, 2023

EPA Moves to Reject Six Coal Plants’ Applications to Keep Toxic Coal Ash Dumps Open

EPA found that the six plants failed to prove that their coal ash ponds were not leaking and not contaminating groundwater