The Chesapeake Bay region has a problem it thought it could bury and forget. But the solution for coal ash is not so simple. Coal ash, also referred to as coal combustion residuals or CCRs, is produced primarily from the burning of coal in coal-fired power plants. Coal ash contains hazardous pollutants including arsenic, boron, cobalt, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury, radium, selenium, and other heavy metals, which have been linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and neurological harm. Without proper management, these contaminants can pollute groundwater and surface waterways and the air causing severe health issues. Maryland’s Power Plant Research Program has identified 400 million tons, with estimates that it may be as high as 700 million tons, of coal ash in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The EPA’s 2015 Coal Ash Rule created the first-ever safeguards for coal ash disposal, and ushered in an era of rapid closure of coal-fired power plants. A report released in March 2019 by Earthjustice and Environmental Integrity Project revealed widespread coal-ash contamination in 39 states — and at more than 91 percent of the power plants monitored. It cited the Brandywine coal ash landfill in Maryland’s Patuxent River watershed as one of the 10 worst coal ash contamination cases in the country.
In the Chesapeake Bay region, Waterkeepers have spent several years taking action to ensure the cleanup of toxic coal ash at these sites. Many of our communities have been impacted by the legacy of toxic coal ash that has been stored in leaking ponds along the banks of the Potomac, James, Patuxent, Susquehanna and many other rivers and streams. Coal ash is an environmental justice issue because historically a high number of coal-fired power plants and coal ash landfills have been situated in low income communities of color.
In Virginia, Dominion Energy fought to “cap in place” the toxic coal ash ponds at their coal-fired power plants – meaning, leave the coal ash in place and cover it up. Potomac Riverkeeper and James Riverkeeper organized impacted communities, legislators and other groups to fight this plan. In 2019, this hard fought campaign resulted in the Virginia Safe Disposal of Coal Ash bill (SB 1355) that mandates the safe disposal of 28 million tons of toxic coal ash Dominion Energy has stored on the banks of the Potomac, James and Elizabeth Rivers, contaminating the communities in these areas. This bill set a national precedent for how to safely remove a legacy of toxic coal ash stored along our waterways in our region and across the nation.
However, most coal ash dumps remain unregulated due to sweeping exemptions for legacy coal ash ponds and inactive landfills, which are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color. Researcher Jason Litten at Frostburg State University’s Western Maryland Regional GIS Center has compiled an extensive database of legacy sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed and beyond. By examining historical aerial photography, LIDAR data, federal databases, and various online sources, he has documented coal ash disposal sites at active and long-ago decommissioned power plants and at off-site landfills. Other areas where coal ash can be found include backfill in abandoned surface coal mines, under shopping centers, in large construction sites like highway interchanges, and buried along river banks – even in areas far from the location of the power plants like Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Quite simply, it is everywhere.
In May 2023, the EPA proposed to establish regulatory requirements for inactive surface impoundments — shallow pits used to store waste — of coal ash at inactive facilities. EPA also proposed to establish groundwater monitoring, corrective action, closure, and post-closure care requirements for all facilities (regardless of how or when the coal ash was placed). This rule would become effective six months after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. No facility would be required to meet any of the new requirements before that six month date.
The challenge is that states have to implement the federal rule and they are under enormous pressure from the utility industry to do as little as possible. In 2019, Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRKN) began investigating community complaints of “orange” water in creeks flowing from the Morgantown Generating Station site in Charles County. Then, after a whistleblower call, PRKN did aerial surveillance and found illegal handling and storage of toxic coal ash, leading to an investigation by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) that found multiple violations of the plant’s Clean Water Act discharge permit and state law. According to the MDE report the state inspector “observed red colored water in the perennial stream adjacent to the railroad tracks.” One of Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujok’s prime concerns is if toxic heavy metals are ending up in this stream, they might also be getting into the Potomac River — and possibly into seafood eaten by humans. And, yet, MDE has not taken action and pollution violations continue since 2019.
It is cases like Morgantown and others that have spurred Potomac Riverkeeper Network and Waterkeepers Chesapeake to work with Del. Mary Lehman to introduce a bill in Maryland that will require an assessment of groundwater and surface water contamination, prioritization of coal ash storage and disposal sites for encapsulated beneficial reuse or disposal in a double-lined landfill with leachate collection systems, establishment of a long-term regulatory fee for surface impoundments of coal ash, and require community input on remediation and recycling plans and a certain percentage of workers hired be from the local, impacted communities. Our intention is that this legislation will serve as a model for other states across the nation that are suffering from the toxic legacy of the coal industry. We invite you to stay connected as we work on this critical public health bill that will most likely attract strong opposition from utilities and other industries.
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