For decades, coal-fired power plants have been dumping millions of tons of waste every year — coal ash and scrubber sludge — into unlined pits. The Environmental Integrity Project examined monitoring data available for the first time in 2018 and found that 91 percent of 265 plants across the U.S. are leaking toxic pollutants including arsenic, a carcinogen, into groundwater. This pollution sometimes contaminates local rivers, streams, and drinking water. (Photo J. Henry Fair/South Wings)
