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For years, power and coal companies have been freely dumping toxic coal ash into unlined landfills and unsafe ponds. Coal ash is hazardous waste from coal-fired power plants filled with dangerously high levels of arsenic, selenium, mercury and other dangerous pollutants known to cause cancer and damage organs. Coal ash sites have poisoned drinking waters, and polluted rivers and streams across the country, from New Mexico to Pennsylvania, Texas to Wisconsin.
There is enough coal ash stored in the hundreds of ponds to fill over 700 Empire State Buildings—and this amount increases by millions of tons each year. Finally, after years of delay, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued proposals for setting federal safeguards against coal ash. But the agency has proposed two plans—one classifies coal ash as hazardous waste, while the other does not—and will soon be asking for your comments before deciding which one to follow. Until the comment period is opened up, though, we need to keep the pressure on the EPA. They've certainly been hearing from industries, who have been flexing their lobbying muscle to cajole the EPA into backing down on important public health and environmental safeguards against coal ash contamination.
Calling coal ash hazardous waste means stronger federal protections for our health and communities, and the polluters don't like this one bit. We need to speak louder. Tell the EPA that it's time to treat coal ash as hazardous waste. Polluters have conveniently ignored the costs to public health of dumping unregulated coal ash into ponds and landfills. We have already waited far too long for comprehensive, enforceable protections against toxic coal ash.
