Please comment today on IPL’s risky and environmentally-unsound plans to close their coal ash lagoons at the Harding Street Generating Station and the Eagle Valley Generating Station. Read our fact sheets here:
Read NUVO’s latest in-depth report on the contamination concerns at IPL’s Harding St. power plant coal ash lagoons.
Why is coal ash an environmental problem?
Over 100 million tons of coal ash are generated every year in the United States. Much of this ash is dumped in surface impoundments — lagoons and ponds — that are located directly above floodplain aquifers and built without liners or other protection for these groundwater resources which are often used for drinking water by nearby residents. Indiana has more of these coal ash lagoons — 84 in total — than any other state. Because of the lax requirements for coal ash disposal, spills and groundwater pollution have occurred in many places, including at 13 sites in Indiana. When it comes into contact with water, coal ash leaches dangerous levels of toxic contaminants, including arsenic, mercury, chromium and selenium.
Two new U.S. EPA rules will provide for greater oversight of coal ash disposal, but citizens including HEC and our supporters must continue to be vigilant in monitoring and shaping state and federal coal ash regulation.
HEC releases new report on the coal ash ponds at Vectren’s Posey County power plant.
Read the full report: Coal Ash at A.B. Brown & Public Health.
Coal ash ponds at A.B. Brown Power Plant near Evansville. © 2016 BlairPhotoEVV
Are the coal ash lagoons at Indiana’s power plants complying with new U.S. EPA rules governing coal ash disposal at lagoons and landfills? Find out at these electric utility web pages where the power plants report on their compliance actions:
Indianapolis Power and Light
American Electric Power
Northern Indiana Public Service
Indiana-Kentucky Electric Co.
For a complete overiew of coal ash in Indiana, read HEC’s “Our Waters at Risk” Report.
Our Waters At Risk: the Health and Environmental Threats from Coal Ash Disposal in Indiana, with a Closer Look at the Coal Ash Ponds at IPL’s Harding Street Station
CLICK HERE to access the executive summary
CLICK HERE to access the full report
CLICK HERE to access the appendices
Read the latest news on IDEM’s proposed coal ash disposal plan.
Nine Organizations Call on County Health Department to Use Its Authority to Compel IPL to Carry Out Comprehensive Groundwater Testing at At-Risk Lagoons
CLICK HERE to read the letter.
HEC Fact Sheet: What we know about groundwater contamination at the IPL Harding Street coal ash lagoons
CLICK HERE to view IDEM water sample.
CLICK HERE to view 1989 groundwater results.
The Town of Pines, Indiana, is a tragic example of the toxicity of coal ash and improper disposal. In 2002, the Town of Pines was declared a federal Superfund site, due to contaminated groundwater from coal ash in a nearby unlined landfill and the use of coal ash to build roads and as fill around the town. Read “Not in My Lifetime: The Fight for Clean Water in the Town of Pines, Indiana.”
Check out an interactive map of coal ash spills and contaminated sites.