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U.S. coal ash crisis worsens: Report reveals four additional Ohio sites, 39 nationwide

As the EPA considers how to regulate toxic waste from coal plants, Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and Sierra Club issued a report today on the nationwide scope of the problem. The report, In Harm’s Way, reveals 39 new sites in 21 states where toxic coal waste has threatened water supplies, including 4 sites in Ohio. It documents the steadily growing number of waters known to be poisoned by poor management of the toxic ash left over when coal is burned for electricity. 

Gavin pond, strip mine & Kyger Creek landfill behind, courtesy Elisa Young/Southwings

Information: In Harms Way: Lack of Federal Coal Ash Regulations Endangers Americans and Their Environment

Action: Protect Ohio from toxic coal ash waste

Video: Coal Ash in Ohio - Ohio Citizen Action

Audio: Listen to the Ohio coal ash press conference call, featuring powerful testimony from Ohio citizens directly impacted by toxic coal ash.

Coal ash in the News: 

• 9/21 Steubenville WTOV9 - Residents Ask EPA for Stricter Fly Ash Regulations
• 9/20 Athens News - Citizen's hearing addresses problem of toxic coal ash
• 9/19 Toledo Blade, Letter - 'Honest pol' an oxymoron
• 9/19 Athens College Green - Coal ash poses many risks, needs federal oversight
• 9/17 Athens College Green - Advocacy groups explore effects of toxic coal ash
• 9/2 Steubenville WTOV9 - Residents want stricter coal ash monitoring
• 8/31 Marietta Times - Toxic ash ponds
• 8/27 Steubenville WTOV9 - Researchers: Coal ash sites contaminate water (VIDEO)
• 8/27 Akron Beacon Journal - Contamination common at coal ash sites
• 8/27 Cleveland Plain Dealer - Environmentalists, power companies debate coal ash regulations
• 8/27 Columbus Dispatch - Toxicity feared at AEP plants
• 8/27 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Report criticize's state's monitoring of coal ash
• 8/26 Cleveland NPR WCPN - Environmental groups push for coal ash regulations

Campuses Moving Beyond Coal

First off, a hat-tip to our friends at realNEO, who brought attention to the coal plant in University Circle in the first place:

• realNEO 9/17/09 - Short-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution Can Drive Up High Blood Pressure

Other media:

• Miami Student 2/7 - Miami University needs cleaner energy source
• Miami Student 1/27 - Beyond Coal plans to clean up energy at MU
• Miami Student 9/2 - Miami must strive to be greener
• WCPN 8/16: Residents at Hearing Decry Coal Burning in University Circle
• Plain Dealer 8/12: Case Western Reserve University steam plant may wait months for decision about permit renewal
• OEPA public hearing 8/10: Powerful video compilation of citizen testimony
• Plain Dealer 8/9: Old-fashioned Ohio coal still being burned at tech-savvy University Circle institutions
• Green City Blue Lake 8/2: Cleveland's elite institutions consider if coal has a place in their future
• City News 8/2: Public Invited to Comment on Permit Renewal For University Circle Coal-Fired Boiler Operation 
• Athens Post 5/23 - Students petition to cease coal usage at OU 

Fish-Killing Coal Plant

Costs Ohio $30 Million Every Year

Pictured: The current configuration of the Bay Shore coal plant, which kills 126,000 adult fish every day.
Image courtesy of Google Earth.

OREGON, OHIO - Sport and commercial anglers, boaters, local residents, and citizen groups have released an economic study that calculates the FirstEnergy Bay Shore coal plant costs the state's economy $29.7 million every year by destroying fish populations that would otherwise be used by Ohioans for recreation or commercial sale.

The Sierra Club collaborated with Ohio Citizen Action, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Lake Erie Charterboat Association, the Izaak Walton League, and local residents to commission the study.

Download and read the study.

Read the comments authored by NRDC on behalf of the Sierra Club and allied groups.

Press Releases

• 2011.03.29
  Ohio University Announces Historic Step: School to Move Beyond Coal
• 2010.10.01
  Ohio Slurry Spill: Belmont County is King Coal’s Newest Mess
• 2010.06.02
  Bay Shore Coal Plant Linked to Economic Damage in Ohio
• 2010.05.18
  Ohio Municipial Utility Announces Further Shift Away From Coal
• 2009.11.25
  Ohioans Give Thanks for Cancellation of Dirty, Expensive Coal Plant

See all press releases

Activist Resources

• Sierra Club releases new AMP analysis: October 2009
• Burger plant biomass retrofit proposal
• Murray Energy - Proposed Slurry Impoundment
• Rosebud Mining
• Medical Center Company - Cleveland

See all resources