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| Dear Friend, |
| When coal is burned to produce electricity, a toxic waste known as coal ash is left behind. Filled with hazardous metals and toxic pollutants such as arsenic, lithium, lead, and other carcinogens and neurotoxins, coal ash poisons our water, sickens our bodies, and kills fish and wildlife. |
| U.S. coal-fired power plants continue to generate more than 70 million tons of coal ash waste each year, making it one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams. Often, coal ash is stored in unlined pits or “ponds,” which may contain tens of millions of tons of dangerous waste. These pits leak toxic waste into underlying groundwater and nearby surface waters. |
| In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency adopted its first-ever safeguards to protect people from toxic coal ash after a lawsuit was brought by Earthjustice. But the agency excluded coal ash in landfills that stopped receiving waste before the law went into effect, all dump sites at power plants that had stopped producing power, and coal ash that was used as fill at sites like playgrounds and residential areas. The majority of exempted coal ash dumps are located disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color. |
| After years of litigation and decades of grassroots activism, the EPA has agreed to address aspects of the 2015 Coal Ash Rule that left half of coal ash unregulated and effectively allowed coal plants to dodge cleaning up toxic coal ash across the country. There is a 60-day comment period underway and public hearings in which it is critically important that community voices are heard. This revised rule would finally require safe closure and remediation of contaminated water and prevent catastrophic spills. |
| There have been coal ash pits and ponds that have failed catastrophically and dumped millions of tons of toxic waste into rivers and lakes. More than 50 workers have died cleaning up toxic ash. We can no longer allow coal ash to put nearby communities and their waterways and drinking water at great risk. |
| The EPA must move quickly to stop the flow of toxic releases from hundreds of leaking dumps and require effective cleanups. The EPA must ensure safeguards are required for all coal ash dumps and then enforce them. The companies that profited from burning coal for decades must not be allowed to walk away from dealing with the hundreds of coal ash dumps leaking toxic waste into drinking water sources and our lakes, rivers and streams. Tell the EPA that the Legacy CCR Surface Impoundment Rule must regulate all coal ash — no exceptions! |
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Sincerely,
Lisa Evans
Senior Counsel,
Clean Energy Program |
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