Over 130 Power Plants Won't Clean Up Leaking Toxic Coal Ash Pits and Ponds

"EPA coal ash regulations issued in 2015 allow polluting utilities to self-regulate. And a giant loophole exempts coal ash piles that stopped receiving coal plant waste before that year."

"A new report based on electric utilities’ own records reveals a significant challenge confronting the Biden administration as it grapples with enforcing coal ash regulations adopted seven years ago in the wake of natural disasters.

The Environmental Protection Agency waited until January to take its first significant enforcement actions to protect communities from the hundreds of polluting piles of coal ash and other coal-burning waste scattered across the country, often leaking toxic contaminants.

But only half of 265 power plants with ash ponds or landfills that are known to be contaminating groundwater agree that cleanup is necessary, and 96 percent of these dissenters are refusing to propose any groundwater treatment, according to the 212-page report, “Poisonous Coverup: The Widespread Failure of the Power Industry to Clean Up Coal Ash Dumps,” by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice."

James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News November 3, 2022.

SEE ALSO:

"Poisonous Coverup" (EIP and Earthjustice)

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

Source: Inside Climate News, 11/03/2022