Our Team

Lisa Evans

Senior Counsel

Clean Energy Program

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Lisa Evans

Senior Counsel Clean Energy Program

Media Inquiries

Lisa Gollin Evans is an attorney specializing in hazardous waste law. Ms. Evans has been active in hazardous waste litigation and advocacy for over 35 years. Since 2006, she has been a senior counsel for Earthjustice.

Evans is an expert on hazardous waste and coal ash issues and testified multiple times before Congress and before the National Academies of Science. Prior to Earthjustice, Ms. Evans worked on toxic coal waste issues for the Boston-based nonprofit Clean Air Task Force.

Ms. Evans began her legal career as an Assistant Regional Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency, Region I. Ms. Evans is also the author of six nonfiction books, including one award-winning children’s book.

Expert Posts & Articles

April 17, 2026

EPA’s Disastrous New Proposal Guts Coal Ash Rules – As Coal Plants Nationwide Pollute Water Supplies

By Lisa Evans

EPA’s new proposed coal ash rule would permit widespread contamination from toxic chemicals in coal ash.
July 10, 2025

Sludge-lords: Reports from Coal Plants Reveal Vast Quantities of Toxic Coal Ash in Newly-Documented Hazardous Ponds

By Lisa Evans

Residents should demand that the sludge-lords comply with federal law and clean up their mess.
October 9, 2024

Toxic Coal Ash Used in Neighborhoods Poses Health Risks Even Decades Later

By Lisa Evans

The use of toxic coal ash as a substitute for clean soil in construction and landscaping remains largely unregulated despite the risks.
August 24, 2023

EPA announces that cleaning up coal ash will be a top priority for enforcement

By Lisa Evans

EPA acknowledges widespread noncompliance from coal-fired power plant owners.
Andrew Rehn, right, of the Prairie Rivers Network and Lan Richart of Eco-Justice Collaborative paddle past toxic coal ash waste seepage on the Vermilion River in Illinois in 2018.
October 1, 2020

Leaking and Looming, Legacy Coal Ash Ponds Spew Poisons. Is There One Near You?

By Lisa Evans

Despite a court order, Trump's EPA is dragging its feet on regulating this toxic threat.
August 29, 2018

Huge Win for Communities Threatened by Toxic Coal Pollution

By Lisa Evans

A landmark court decision requires the EPA to significantly increase protections for more than 850 coal ash ponds.
All Posts

Media Inquiries

Kathryn McGrath
Public Affairs and Communications Strategist
kmcgrath@earthjustice.org

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Quoted in the News

July 29, 2026

Canary Media

EPA proposals to keep Indiana coal going would threaten drinking water

“This EPA is eradicating environmental and health protections and will make Americans sicker [and] poorer, and destroy irreplaceable water resources.”
April 9, 2026

Associated Press

Trump administration proposes gutting rules targeting coal plant ash that threatens groundwater

“The Trump administration just took a sledgehammer to the health protections in place for toxic coal pollution. This is yet another handout to the coal power industry at the expense of our health, water, and wallets.”
January 9, 2026

Canary Media

EPA plans to give 11 coal plants a free pass on toxic ash disposal

“EPA never reviewed these demonstrations. If they did, I am confident that they would likely find that each of the plants are ineligible for an extension.”
March 24, 2025

Maryland Matters

Maryland could lock in Biden-era coal ash rules, as Trump EPA considers rollbacks

“I’m thrilled to see that Maryland is stepping up, because we’re going to need the states to hold the line and enforce the federal rule. In a couple of years, those federal regulations may not be on the books.”
March 24, 2025

Grist

Power companies would rather not clean their toxic messes. Trump’s EPA is granting their wish.

“Utilities have gamed the system at some plants by designing monitoring systems that intentionally miss detecting leakage from a coal ash dump.”
January 30, 2025

Tampa Bay Times

Duke Energy asks Trump admin to roll back pollution regulations

“The letter is bluster with no punches, thunder with no lightning... Many of these demands have already been litigated in federal court, and industry lost. The public record reveals that nearly all coal plants have contaminated groundwater with dangerous toxic chemicals above federal standards. Any new regulation proposed by the Trump administration will have to address this alarming situation.”

Latest Press Statements

A landscape photo of a coal plant with the foreground being marsh with tall grass.
April 9, 2026

EPA Proposes to Gut Federal Coal Ash Cleanup Requirements and Health Protections

Earthjustice will sue to stop the EPA from rewriting the rules for coal power companies’ toxic sludge
February 6, 2026

Trump EPA Delays Cleanup of Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps in Advance of Larger Rollback

The rule comes just days before a deadline for owners to report on previously unregulated coal ash dumping at power plant sites
November 25, 2025

EPA Proposes to Delay Closure of Some of the Largest Toxic Coal Ash Ponds, in Violation of the Law

Trump’s EPA proposal would allow EPA to grant 11 coal power plants extensions to continue dumping toxic coal ash in unlined ponds until October 17, 2031
July 17, 2025

EPA Seeks to Delay Monitoring and Clean up Requirements for Toxic Coal Ash, Adopting the Wishes of the Coal Power Industry

Across the U.S., coal ash dump sites leak dangerous levels of toxic pollutants, contaminating water and threatening health
The Coal Creek coal-fired power plant near Lake Sakakawea, North Dakota.
May 12, 2025

Trump Administration Proposes Giving North Dakota Authority to Oversee Toxic Coal Ash, Raising Concerns about Drinking Water and Health

Decisions pending on other state requests
Vac truck excavation work near the town pavillion in Town of Pines, Indiana.
December 11, 2023

EPA: Radiation from Coal Ash Poses Cancer Risk

More than 150 public interest groups urge the EPA to ban the widespread use of toxic coal ash as structural fill