Coal Ash

The report details how coal ash, the second-largest industrial waste stream in the U.S., contains toxic heavy metals that leach into groundwater and surface water or become airborne as fugitive dust. It highlights the inadequacy of current state-level regulations and the failure of unlined disposal ponds, citing numerous 'damage cases' where communities have suffered from contaminated drinking water and ecological collapse. The authors advocate for a transition away from wet storage and unencapsulated reuse, calling for federal standards to protect susceptible populations, particularly children and low-income communities.

• Coal ash is the second-largest industrial waste stream in the U.S., following only mining wastes, and is disposed of in approximately 2,000 sites nationwide, including wet ash ponds, dry landfills, and abandoned mines.
• Coal ash contains a variety of deadly toxic metals, including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and selenium, which can cause cancer, neurological damage, and organ system failure in humans.
• The EPA has determined that individuals living near unlined wet ash ponds who rely on well water for drinking have as high as a 1 in 50 chance of developing cancer from arsenic-contaminated water, a risk 2,000 times higher than the EPA's target of 1 in 100,000.
• Modern air pollution control technologies, such as scrubbers, are shifting pollutants from the air into the coal ash, effectively trading one environmental problem for another and increasing the toxicity of the solid waste.
• Unlined surface impoundments (wet ash ponds) are the primary cause of groundwater contamination, as they lack composite liners and leachate collection systems to prevent toxics from percolating into aquifers.
• New EPA analytical procedures show that coal ash leachate can be significantly more toxic than previously thought, with some substances leaching at levels hundreds or thousands of times higher than federal drinking water standards.
• Coal ash poses a significant respiratory risk through 'fugitive dust' (fine particulate matter PM2.5), which can lodge deep in the lungs and increase the risk of cardiopulmonary disease, especially for those with pre-existing conditions like asthma or diabetes.
• The reuse of coal ash as unencapsulated fill in construction, agriculture, or on roads creates additional pathways for toxic leaching and human exposure.
• There are nearly 140 documented damage cases of coal ash contamination, including 63 identified by the EPA and 70 by Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project; in 38 of these, toxics migrated into nearby communities.
• Coal ash causes severe ecological damage, particularly to aquatic life; for example, selenium contamination in Belews Lake, North Carolina, eliminated 19 of 20 original fish species.
• Contaminants in coal ash are highly persistent, with EPA modeling suggesting that peak well-water concentrations for selenium, arsenic, and cobalt from unlined impoundments may not occur for 74 to 97 years.

APA

Gottlieb, B., Gilbert, S. G., & Evans, L. G. (n.d.). Coal Ash. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/coalash_earthjustice.pdf

Chicago

Gottlieb, Barbara, Steven G. Gilbert, and Lisa Gollin Evans. Coal Ash. Earthjustice, n.d. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/coalash_earthjustice.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gottlieb |first1=Barbara |last2=Gilbert |first2=Steven G. |last3=Evans |first3=Lisa Gollin |title=Coal Ash |publisher=Earthjustice |url=https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/coalash_earthjustice.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gottliebndcoal, author = {Gottlieb, Barbara and Gilbert, Steven G. and Evans, Lisa Gollin}, title = {{Coal Ash}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, url = {https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/coalash_earthjustice.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }