A new coal ash study released by the Riverkeeper team yesterday, made headlines:

All North Carolina Coal Ash Ponds are Leaking Toxic Pollution to Groundwater
published by the Institute of Southern Studies in Facing South

N.C. data: Tainted water near coal-ash ponds published by The Charlotte Observer

Ash ponds linked to bad water published by The News & Observer

N.C. Coal Ash Ponds Contaminating Groundwater, Analysis Shows published by Water Online

What is a coal ash pond?

Coal ash is the stuff left over after coal is burned. It contains high levels of arsenic, boron, selenium, chromium and other heavy metals, and has been found to be toxic. Coal ash is often mixed with water and stored in unlined ponds surrounding power plants. In North Carolina these ponds range in size anywhere from 26 to 512 acres.

What did our study find?

These are the most alarming things our study found:

• Every well at every plant had a violation

• There were 681 violations, up to 380 times the standard

• This is voluntary data and has lots of gaps, so the actual contamination is probably worse than this data indicates

• Many ponds are right next to rivers or lakes, and there is probably contamination of these waters from the groundwater
• Regulators are unsure if the law requires clean up for most of these sites

For more detailed information check out the press release and the report.

Based on our findings there is no doubt that the contamination surrounding these ash ponds needs to be cleaned up. However, even the state regulators we spoke with were unclear about the specific requirements for monitoring and cleanup. This is why we need clear federal standards classifying coal ash as a hazardous waste.

What are we going to do about it?

In response to the 60 Minutes piece on coal ash last Sunday, there has been a big push from environmental groups for federal regulation of coal ash. The EPA is considering classifying coal ash as a hazardous waste and we are in support of this move. If coal ash is classified as a hazardous waste, utilities would no longer be allowed to store it ponds, they would have to store it in dry silos.

Next week we are meeting with the NC DENR groundwater regulators to discuss our findings and their plans for future regulation.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 8:12 pm and is filed under All Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.