Tell the EPA: Enact Strong Safeguards Against Toxic Coal Ash
- by: Sierra Club
- recipient: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
Since last September, Duke Energy illegally spilled and dumped over 61 million gallons of toxic coal ash into North Carolina's waterways. Ash from coal-burning power plants is full of toxic heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead -- that the coal companies then dump in pits and ponds with no plan for safe disposal or cleanup.
Thankfully there's now a federal investigation into the leaks and illegal dumping, but there are still no federal safeguards to protect our communities from coal ash or other water pollution caused by burning coal -- even though there are more than 1,100 coal ash sites like the ones in North Carolina.
Tell the EPA we have waited long enough and that it's time to finalize new coal ash protections.
Dear Administrator McCarthy,
It has been five years since the coal ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee, when a billion gallons of toxic sludge poured onto farmland and into the Emory and Clinch rivers. And just last month, the people of Eden, North Carolina watched as millions of gallons of coal ash and contaminated water flooded the Dan River -- a spill that will take weeks to clean up.
The EPA must move forward with a strong safeguard against coal ash -- one that ensures no more coal ash ponds like this are built in the future, and also cleans up and closes the existing ones.
[Your comments will go here]
I call on you to finalize robust rules both under the Clean Water Act and under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to deal with the dangerous water pollution from coal plants, like coal ash. These rules must be finalized by the end of this year, and must reject weak options in favor of strong and federally enforceable measures.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
