You helped us increase awareness of the toxic coal ash in the Tensaw Delta! You told your neighbors, attended our talks, visited us at events, signed petitions. attended EPA Hearings and wrote comments when the EPA asked for your opinion! You became an informed citizen on coal ash and it has made a difference!
Say No To Cap-In-Place!
We must continue to stand united to ensure COMPLETE REMOVAL, RECYCLING & CLOSURE of the coal ash pond at Plant Barry. Please write a letter today!
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Big News! EPA formally denies Alabama Power's Coal Ash Plan!
The unlined Plant Barry pond is situated in a precarious site surrounded on three sides by the Mobile Riverin the Tensaw Delta making it susceptible to breach by a hurricane or flood, and is within the 100-year flood plain*.
*An area with at least a 26% chance a catastrophic flood within 30 years.
The grass embankment behind these trees separates the 21.7 million cubic yards of coal ash from the Mobile River. (Photo: Mobile Baykeeper)
Coal plants with coal ash sitting below the water table, the point below which the ground is saturated with water, is stated by the EPA as not suitable sites for coal ash ponds because it does not prevent contaminants from leaching into the groundwater and surrounding area.
"...to effectively close any coal ash storage site, the waste must be permanently isolated from water, including groundwater, and that the Barry pond’s location — on a meandering river system’s floodplain — was an unsuitable place to permanently store waste. No (new) waste disposal facility would be permitted in this physical location.”
- Mark Hutson, geologist hired by SELC to review Alabama Power's closure plan for the Barry pond.
Currently, one dirt dike keeps the 21+ million tons of toxic coal ash from flowing into the Mobile River and the Mobile/Tensaw Delta. Similar dirt dikes in Tennessee and North Carolina have failed resulting in tragic coal ash pollution at those sites.
Help us protect America's Amazon from the damaging effects of coal ash pollution in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
Like many other southeastern states near bodies of water, we firmly believe that safer alternatives must be implemented to protect our communities and the environment.
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To properly prevent irreparable harm, we implore Alabama Power to do the right thing by recycling as much coal ash as possible and to relocate any remaining ash to an upland, lined landfill.
WHAT IS COAL ASH?
Coal ash is a catchall term for several kinds of waste left over after coal is burned for energy at power plants. It contains high concentrations of heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cobalt, mercury, selenium, and lead which are hazardous to human health, wildlife, and waterways located near coal ash ponds.
The Barry coal ash lagoon is currently contaminating groundwater with arsenic and cobalt according to Alabama Power reports from 2018 continuing up to the latest report in 2022.
Tests revealed that arsenic levels in groundwater at the Barry site were 806% higher than the legal limit. Long-term exposure can lead to liver damage, kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmia, and a variety of cancers, such as leukemia from ionizing radiation.
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Alabama Power used a "cap in place" to close the coal ash pond at the Gadsden plant. After closure, ground watering monitoring data shows pollution levels of arsenic that are 10,000% above the legal limit and 50% greater for radium.
What happens when coal ash gets into the water supply?
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Over time, heavy metals in the ash can escape into nearby waterways and contaminate drinking water. Exposure to coal ash is linked with a heightened risk for cancer as well as heart damage, reproductive problems, neurological disorders, and other serious health conditions.
(Union of Concerned Citizens, 2017) https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/coal-and-water-pollution
Toxic Waste on Site
Unsafe Readings Above Legal Limit
Plant Barry On-Site
Monitoring Wells
REPORT CARD:
SOUTHEASTERN UTILITIES COAL ASH REMOVAL
Other utilities in the southeast, including Georgia Power, are economically removing 250 million tons of coal ash thus protecting their cities and rivers. Alabamians deserve the same.
State | Grade | Status |
|---|---|---|
South Carolina | A | Excavating coal ash from every unlined, leaking lagoon in the state. |
North Carolina | A | Complete removal of all coal ash in progress (80 million tons). |
Virginia | A | Complete removal of all coal ash in progress (27 million tons). |
Georgia | B | Removing/recycling 65 tons of coal ash from 19 ponds including every coastal ash pond (65% of state ash). |
Mississippi | D | Removing 214,500 tons to onsite lined landfill. |
Alabama | D | Planned removal of 700,000 tons of coal ash from ponds. |
Coal ash spills have happened in similar facilities devastating surrounding waterways, local communities, and aquatic life.
"Citizens and environmental groups across the Southeast have long been concerned by the possibility of coal ash spills. The vulnerability of coal ash pits became clear in 2008 when a Kingston, Tennessee dam containing an 84-acre ash pit failed. It filled nearby rivers with more than 5.4 million cubic yards' of coal ash and covered 300 acres. The clean-up took nearly a decade, and the monetary cost was one billion dollars. But there was a cost to human life as well. The toxicity of the Kingston coal ash was later found to have caused the sickness, and even death, of dozens of people participating in the cleanup effort. 3 Since 2008, coal ash has spilled at several ponds around the nation. Each spill pollutes nearby rivers, endangers the health of downstream communities, and damages local economies."
(Source: Mobile Baykeeper)
BEFORE
AFTER
Dan River, North Carolina, Duke Energy, 2012
In Dec. 2008, the failure of a dike at TVA's coal-fired power plant near Kingston, Tenn., released 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash into the Emory and Clinch rivers and buried about 300 acres of land.
October 21, 1966—Aberfan, Wales, UK: The collapse of a dump containing coal mining debris over a Welsh village kills 116 children and 28 adults, many of whom had just started the day at a primary school. Source: Wikimedia Commons
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