Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Indiana and Kentucky have the most coal ash ponds in the country and many of those ponds have numerous deficiencies and were built without trained engineers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA conducted the survey on the nation’s coal ash ponds following last December’s massive spill in which a coal ash impoundment pond at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal-firing plant in east Tennessee broke, sending 1.1 gallons of toxic sludge onto 300 acres of a neighboring community. The coal ash destroyed homes, damaged property and contaminated nearby waterways, and is being blamed for making many locals sick.

An investigation into the cause of the TVA spill has sent a ripple of new standards for coal ash impoundments throughout the country, including a survey conducted by the EPA of all electric utilities. The EPA found nearly 600 ash ponds. The most ponds were found in Indiana, with 53 ponds. Kentucky came in close second with 44 ponds. The survey also found significant deficiencies in the way some of the impoundment ponds have been inspected, though which ponds and where were not disclosed.

In 2000, the EPA deemed coal ash a nonhazardous material, and thus it did not fall under federal inspections. Inspections are left up to state regulators. Since 2000, improved pollution controls keep more and more toxins from leaving smokestack, thus increasing the amount of toxins in the coal ash. Coal ash contains arsenic, lead, chromium, manganese and barium, all of which have been shown to contribute to serious health conditions such as cancer, liver damage and neurological complications.

The Obama administration has promised to adopt national standards for the handling of coal combustion wastes including coal ash ponds, though no time line has yet been set. The EPA says it will analyze the findings of the survey. A report will be made public by the first of next year.

Source: Courier-Journal

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