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| Dear Friend, |
| Coal ash remains one of our nation’s largest toxic industrial waste streams, and if polluters get their way, our federal government won’t compel these companies to clean up their mess. |
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Send a message to the Environmental Protection Agency: No more delays. Time to force power plants to finally clean up their toxic waste.
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| When coal is burned to produce electricity, a toxic waste known as coal ash is left behind. For decades, power companies disposed of coal ash by dumping it into unlined ponds and landfills. These pits leak toxic chemicals into underlying groundwater and nearby surface waters. |
| 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. |
| For decades, coal plant operators have used dangerous, leaking dumps to dispose of their toxic waste. But after years of Earthjustice litigation and grassroots activism, in 2018 the courts ruled that utilities must stop dumping coal ash in unlined ponds. In response to this order, EPA required all unlined coal ash ponds to initiate closure on April 11, 2021. |
| Now, Trump’s EPA is expanding a loophole established by the first Trump administration that will allow coal plants to delay closure of toxic ash dumps up to 13 years after the court found this dumping to be illegal. EPA is issuing a pass to pollute and asking coal power companies to name how long they would like to continue dumping toxic coal ash into dangerous unlined ponds. |
| If this proposal is approved, EPA would delay safe closure of leaking coal ash ponds for at least three more years. That means more time for communities living near dump sites to be exposed to dangerous levels of toxic pollutants in their drinking water. The majority of coal ash dumps are located in low-income communities and communities of color. |
| The longer industry fails to take action to control its toxic coal ash, the greater the threat to our health and the harm to our water. |
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Thank you for your continued advocacy,
Mychal Ozaeta
Senior Attorney,
Clean Energy Program |
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| Earthjustice, 180 Steuart Street, #194330, San Francisco, CA 94105 |
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| A coal ash pond full of dead trees lies adjacent to Duke Energy's Buck Steam Station in Dukeville, N.C., in 2016. (Chuck Burton / AP) |
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