Great Lakes

In more than 700 spots nationwide, toxic coal ash is stored in ponds, dammed impoundments, landfills, and more unusual structures: a meteor crater, ...

The pollution burden of coal ash can also be lessened by increased recycling, or “beneficial use.” Coal ash is a crucial ingredient in making concrete and it is also used in building roads and other structures, while the coal-burning byproduct gypsum is used in drywall. With more investment and careful handling, more coal ash could be reused and coal ash currently stored in landfills or impoundments could be funneled into reuse, experts note. Now AES’ coal ash is being sent by barge to a private port in Jacksonville, Florida, then trucked to a landfill in Georgia, despite the outrage of local officials. The coal ash had decades ago been used to fill a ravine. [ and the state Supreme Court agreed](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/a-big-win-for-customers-stakeholders-praise-south-carolina-supreme-court/609194/) last year that Duke couldn’t bill South Carolina customers for cleaning up coal ash in North Carolina. At Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen, the company is planning to add a liner to a coal ash pond but leave it in the same spot where in 2002 [a four-acre sinkhole](https://wbhfradio.org/georgia-power-proposes-risky-coal-ash-pond-closure-at-plant-bowen/) opened and released coal ash into a nearby creek. In fact we’ve seen the opposite — we’ve seen Georgia and Alabama giving utilities permits to close a [coal ash] unit with ash in contact with groundwater, which is a violation of the federal rule.” After TVA’s 2008 disaster, the ash from the cleanup was trucked from the predominantly White city of Kingston to a landfill in Uniontown, an impoverished Black community in Alabama. It ultimately decided to truck the ash to a nearby landfill in a majority Black neighborhood of Memphis, despite residents’ strident opposition. Some of the EPA’s extension denials said companies did not adequately consider removing coal ash from pits and moving it to safer locations, but those decisions don’t prohibit the companies from closing ash ponds in place. In January the Environmental Protection Agency announced its intention to actually enforce the coal ash rules. Coal ash is almost always dumped near water bodies — rivers, lakes, and reservoirs — since it’s historically been held on the sites of coal plants that need water for cooling.