Fighting For Protections From Coal Ash

For decades, coal ash has polluted our waters and our communities. We will not let polluter profits triumph over public health.

Case Overview

Coal ash, the toxic remains of coal burning in power plants, is full of chemicals that cause cancer, developmental disorders and reproductive problems. It poisons our water and kills fish and wildlife. But despite the threat, both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House have done little to protect the waters we drink from coal ash contamination.

After our long court battle to get the first-ever federal safeguards on coal ash dumps, these hard-won protections are now endangered. The Trump administration is now moving to pull back the protections outlined in a settlement Earthjustice won on behalf of ten public interest groups and the Moapa Band of Paiutes.

We fight in the courts for a long-term solution to this toxic menace: strong, enforceable federal rules protecting our water and our health from exposure to toxic coal ash pollution. And we act on behalf of dozens of clients and coalition partners to defeat legislative attempts to subvert federally enforceable safeguards of coal ash

We need strong safeguards that protect our health and our environment. Polluters don’t want to clean up their toxic mess and are pressuring the EPA and Congress to ignore this growing problem. But together, we can illuminate the coal ash problem and push decision-makers to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink.

The devastating coal ash spill in Kingston, TN, in December of 2008.
The devastating coal ash spill in Kingston, TN, in December of 2008. (Photo by Tennessee Valley Authority)

Case Updates

March 13, 2024 In the News: Indiana Public Radio

Pines residents, activists worry coal ash cleanup standard for soil based on flawed data

Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel, Clean Energy Program: “It may result in very few properties being cleaned up if that [natural level of arsenic] standard is set artificially high.”

March 12, 2024 In the News: Energy News Network

Parsing legal definitions, power industry pushes back on EPA coal ash enforcement

Gavin Kearney, Deputy Managing Attorney, Clean Energy Program: “The whole overarching point (of the federal rules) is that groundwater contamination is a big problem; it’s really unsafe, and we have to prevent it. You can’t let water in (to a coal ash impoundment); you can’t let water out; you can’t let water just sit inside the impoundment.”

February 20, 2024 In the News: Indianapolis Star

EPA: Cancer risk from coal ash higher than previously revealed. Could it be in your yard?

Lisa Evans, Senior Counsel, Clean Energy Program: “Nothing prevents power plants from moving radioactive waste from their own backyards into the backyards and neighborhoods where American families live.”