Waste Deep Filling Mines with Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, But Poison for People

The report examines the environmental and health risks associated with dumping coal combustion waste (CCW), or coal ash, into active and abandoned coal mines across the United States. It argues that this practice, often labeled as 'beneficial use' or 'recycling' to bypass regulations, allows toxic metals to leach into groundwater and surface water. The document highlights the failure of the U.S. EPA and the Office of Surface Mining to implement necessary safeguards, noting that minefilling is driven by economic incentives, reducing disposal costs by 89 to 95 percent compared to engineered landfills. It specifically identifies the increased risks from Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) plants and provides case studies of contamination in Pennsylvania and New Mexico. The report concludes by urging the EPA to adopt the National Academies of Sciences' recommendations for mandatory testing, site characterization, and long-term monitoring.

• The United States generates over 129 million tons of coal combustion waste (CCW) annually, making it the second largest industrial waste stream in the country.
• Approximately 24 to 25 million tons of CCW, representing about 20 percent of total generation, are disposed of in coal mines each year.
• Coal ash contains significantly higher concentrations of toxic metals than the original coal; for example, barium concentrations in ash are 42 times higher than in the parent coal.
• The use of air pollution controls, such as activated carbon injection to capture mercury, has increased the toxicity of CCW, causing it to leach arsenic and selenium at levels that would classify it as 'hazardous' under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
• Dumping CCW in mines is economically motivated, as it reduces disposal costs by 89 to 95 percent compared to using engineered landfills.
• Fluidized Bed Combustion (FBC) plants produce significantly more waste than conventional pulverized coal boilers, generating about 4 times more CCW per megawatt of electricity.
• The report identifies severe contamination at specific sites, such as the San Juan Mine in New Mexico, where lead, selenium, arsenic, cadmium, and boron have exceeded drinking water standards in the shallow gravel aquifer.

APA

Keating, M., Evans, L., Dunham, B., & Stant, J. (n.d.). Waste Deep Filling Mines with Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, But Poison for People. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/earthjustice_waste_deep.pdf

Chicago

Keating, Martha, Lisa Evans, Ben Dunham, and Jeff Stant. Waste Deep Filling Mines with Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, But Poison for People. Earthjustice, n.d. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/earthjustice_waste_deep.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Keating |first1=Martha |last2=Evans |first2=Lisa |last3=Dunham |first3=Ben |last4=Stant |first4=Jeff |title=Waste Deep Filling Mines with Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, But Poison for People |publisher=Earthjustice |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/earthjustice_waste_deep.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{keatingndwaste, author = {Keating, Martha and Evans, Lisa and Dunham, Ben and Stant, Jeff}, title = {{Waste Deep Filling Mines with Coal Ash Is Profit for Industry, But Poison for People}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/earthjustice_waste_deep.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }