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WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (OneWorld.net) - Just days after a disaster at a Tennessee coal dump garnered widespread media attention, an environmental watchdog is reporting that nearly 100 such unregulated dumps exist across the United States, containing toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants that could be contaminating ground and surface water even without an incident like the one in Tennessee.

• Toxic dumps endanger the environment around them, polluting groundwater and threatening the health of humans and wildlife. © xjyxjy (flickr)In late December, 300 acres in Tennessee were flooded with toxic sludge when a pond used to store coal ash ruptured. "Coal ash, a toxic byproduct from burning coal to create electricity, contains heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium, which threaten water supplies and human health," writes environmental monitor Friends of the Earth. The massive spill -- bigger than the oil released from the Exxon Valdez -- covered hundreds of acres of land, the group said, knocking homes off of their foundations and flowing into streams and the Clinch and Tennessee rivers.

• The New York Times reported this week that there may be as many as 1,300 similar dumps across the United States. "Yet they are not subject to any federal regulation, which experts say could have prevented the spill, and there is little monitoring of their effects on the surrounding environment," states the newspaper. To help prevent another coal disaster, Friends of the Earth is encouraging concerned citizens to tell Congress: "A ban on new coal-fired power plants is needed immediately, and we must rapidly phase out existing coal facilities and replace them with clean energy alternatives and energy efficiency." Click here to make your voice heard.

• In addition to generating toxic waste that can harm humans and the environment, "Burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxics," states the research and activist group the Union for Concerned Scientists. Coal mining also takes a heavy toll on the environment as the Earth's surface is often removed by forceful explosions to expose the coal below and waste is generally dumped in valleys and streams. Meanwhile, underground coal mining is an extremely dangerous occuption and has severe health consequences for laborers. Finally, coal-fired power plants draw billions of gallons of water from nearby bodies of water, says the Union for Concerned Scientists.

EIP REPORT: OTHER TOXIC COAL POLLUTION DUMPS AROUND THE U.S. POSE GREATER POTENTIAL DANGER THAN TENNESEE COAL ASH SPILL DISASTER SITE

From: Environmental Integrity Project

January 7, 2009

At Least 13 States Have 3 or More Under-Regulated "Wet Dumps" on Worst-Of Lists for Toxic Chemicals; One Coal Pollution Dump in Orlando, FL Holds 10 Times More Arsenic Than TN Disaster Site.

WASHINGTON, D.C.//January 7, 2009//Nearly 100 largely unregulated "wet dumps" across the United States that are comparable to the Tennessee Valley Authority's breached site in Harriman, Tennessee for the storage of toxic pollution from coal-fired power plants have a place on one or more of the "worst site" lists for six toxic metals, including arsenic and lead, according to a new data analysis from the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).

In fact, many of the toxic coal ash "wet dump" sites around the U.S. appear to pose a greater potential danger than the Tennessee site that is now in the headlines. In the case of deadly arsenic, which has been detected in water polluted by the TVA site disaster in Tennessee, the Stanton Energy Facility in Orlando, FL., has reported dumping roughly 10 times more of the carcinogen in its site between 2000-2006 than the TVA did over the same period in its now ruptured Harriman, TN storage pond site. According to the EIP analysis, at least 20 coal pollution dump sites reported more arsenic in coal ash impoundments than the Kingston site.

The TVA's now-notorious pollution storage site in Tennessee was found by EIP to be on five of the six toxic chemical lists for the 50 worst coal-fired power plant pollution "wet dumps." A total of five comparable disposal sites showed up on all six of the six worst-site lists for the toxic metals: TVA Widows Creek Fossil Plant, Jackson, AL; Duke Energy Gibson Generating Station, Gibson, IN; Georgia Power Scherer Steam Electric Generating Plant, Juliette, GA; Kentucky Utilities Co Ghent Station, Ghent, KY.; and Louisville Gas & Electric Co. - Mill Creek Station, Louisville, KY. Using industry-reported data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxic Reporting Inventory (TRI) data system for 2000-2006 (the latter being the most recent year for which complete data is available), EIP looked at the presence of arsenic, chromium, lead, nickel, selenium and thallium in the waste at Tennessee-style pollution dumping sites across the nation. The EPA has determined that these "surface impoundment" ponds (also known as "wet dumps") are the most likely storage sites to leak pollution into groundwater and surface water, even without a catastrophic failure such as the one before Christmas at the TVA's Kingston Steam Plant coal ash retention pond, which burst and covered the nearby area with more than a billion gallons of toxic-laden sludge.

The EIP analysis shows that a total of 13 states were found to have at least three coal-fired power plant "surface impoundment" dumping sites on the six 50-worst toxic chemical lists: Indiana, 11 dumps; Ohio, eight dumps; Kentucky, seven dumps; Alabama, seven dumps; Georgia, six dumps; North Carolina, six dumps; West Virginia, four dumps; Tennessee, four dumps; Illinois, three dumps; Michigan, three dumps; Pennsylvania, three dumps; Florida, three dumps; and Wyoming, three dumps.

Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental Integrity Project, said: "The Tennessee eco-disaster has cast a spotlight on what is a very serious national problem - the existence of under-regulated toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired power plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams. Our analysis confirms that this problem is truly national in scope and that Tennessee may end up only being a warning sign of much more trouble to come. In addition to so-called ‘surface impoundments' in ponds, we need to be concerned about inadequate oversight and monitoring of land-based disposal and other ‘storage' of these toxic wastes. We can no longer afford to ignore this problem and we certainly can't be content to just sit around and wait for the next Tennessee-style disaster to happen."

Lisa Evans, project attorney, EarthJustice, said: "By highlighting the enormous volume of toxic chemicals present in coal ash, which is concentrated at single dump sites throughout the U.S, the EIP report points to the solution- federal regulations that require containment of the toxic ash produced by every U.S. coal plant. Nothing less will solve this serious problem and stop the ongoing damage to our health and environment." Christopher Irwin, staff attorney, United Mountain Defense, located in Knoxville, TN., said: "In Harriman Tennessee we were shocked when what is one of largest ecological disasters in American history destroyed an entire watershed and nearly a community. Now we are doubly shocked to find that this disaster may be set to repeat itself in communities all over. "These Ash piles maybe slowly poisoning America's greatest natural resource, our watersheds. The TVA disaster hopefully will be a wake-up call that protecting our precious water resources must be priority number 1. "Dead fish, sick residents, toxic sludge, dead rivers--the scene from the TVA disaster in Harriman, Tennessee could repeat itself in unsuspecting communities throughout North America." 

Read more from the EIP article

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