Coal Combustion Wastes

About half of U.S. electricity comes from coal-fired power plants that are the major source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. We rarely hear about their other major byproduct: coal combustion wastes (CCWs). U.S. plants produce enough ash every year to fill a coal train over 10,000 miles long. CCWs are dumped into old mines, bermed into open lagoons, or just piled on the ground at more than 600 sites around the country. These massive ash dumps contain lead, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, mercury, and other dangerous materials that leach into groundwater causing a range of human health problems, from lead poisoning to sharply increased cancer rates. The EPA does not classify CCWs as hazardous and does not regulate their disposal (such as requiring impermeable liners for ash lagoons). As airborne emissions from coal plants are reduced, CCWs increase. As Jeff Stant of Earthjustice told the High Country News, "the words 'clean coal technology" are an oxymoron. There's no such thing as that. Matter doesn't disappear."