Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized an historic suite of standards to address pollution from fossil-fueled power plants. These new standards mark a milestone achievement reflecting years of work — inside and outside of government — to clean up pollution from coal-fired and gas-fired power plants, now and for the future.
The EPA finalized more stringent wastewater treatment standards for coal-fired power plants that will reduce the amount of toxic wastewater containing arsenic, mercury, and other pollutants that they are allowed to dump into U.S. waterways. For decades, coal-fired plants have polluted water bodies supplying drinking water to millions of people across the United States. According to EPA, the new rule would prevent over half a billion pounds of pollutants from being discharged into U.S. waterways each year, and drinking water utilities won’t need to install expensive new treatment systems to remove toxic contaminants from upstream coal-fired power plants.
In addition, after years of litigation and grassroots activism, the EPA has addressed gaps in the 2015 Coal Ash Rule that left half of coal ash unregulated and allowed coal plants to avoid cleaning up toxic coal ash across the country. Today the EPA finalized the Legacy CCR Surface Impoundment Rule which extends federal monitoring and cleanup requirements to hundreds of previously excluded older coal ash landfills and ponds.
For decades, utilities disposed of coal ash – the hazardous substance left after burning coal for energy – by dumping it in unlined ponds and landfills that leak dangerous levels of toxic pollutants. These ponds and landfills are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color. In our region, researchers from Maryland’s Power Plant Program have mapped where coal ash has been dumped or used for fill, demonstrating that almost every frontline community has a coal ash problem. For years, several of our Waterkeepers have been fighting for a fair and effective clean-up of coal ash sites through community organizing, state legislation, and lawsuits.
Coal ash is a toxic mix of hazardous pollutants, metals, carcinogens, and neurotoxins, including arsenic, boron, cobalt, chromium, lead, lithium, mercury, molybdenum, radium, selenium, and other heavy metals. These have been linked to cancer, heart and thyroid disease, reproductive failure, and neurological harm.
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 coal ash landfill in Brandywine, a majority Black community in Maryland’s Patuxent River watershed, as one of the 10 worst coal ash contamination cases in the country.
The EPA designated coal ash as a national enforcement priority last year and has ramped up enforcement actions, acknowledging that there is widespread noncompliance with existing coal ash regulations. The longer industry delays, the more toxic waste enters our water and communities, and the more difficult cleanup becomes. The EPA and our states must now move swiftly to enforce the rules and make polluters clean up all coal ash at current and former power plant sites. As we move beyond burning coal for electricity, we now have the chance to ensure that power plants do not leave a toxic mess behind.
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