EIP has identified a total of 20 additional coal ash dump sites causing groundwater and soil contamination in 10 states – Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. These include 19 sites where coal ash appears to have contaminated groundwater with arsenic or other pollutants at levels above Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL). All but two have also measured concentrations of other pollutants – such as boron, molybdenum, and manganese – above EPA-recommended Health Advisories for children or adults. In addition, our report includes new information about 7 previously recognized damage cases, including stunning evidence of groundwater more toxic than hazardous waste leachate. Finally, we have identified soil contamination at an Indiana site where coal ash was used to fill in a rail bed. These structural fills account for most “recycling” of coal combustion waste, and are largely unregulated.
Today EIP also released a letter to Congress from thousands of residents near coal ash dump sites in 27 states pleading for proper federal oversight – even as some in Congress are urging that federal oversight to clean up toxic coal ash pollution be relaxed and authority to enforce meaningful standards be eliminated.
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) has been collecting evidence of groundwater contamination near coal ash ponds and landfills for several years, and the more we look, the more we find. After EPA documented 67 proven or potential ‘damage cases’ in 2007, we found groundwater or surface water contamination at 70 additional sites, and submitted our analysis to EPA in two reports released in February and August of 2010. The current report brings the total number of damage cases identified by EPA and other groups to 157.
For the report click here.
For the news release click here.
Read the letter to Congress from more than 2,000 Americans living near coal ash sites .
Listen to the December 13, 2011 news event here.
