(Mobile, Ala.) – Alabama Power recently released Plant Barry’s coal ash pond Inundation Maps detailing areas, including parts of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, which would be covered with toxic coal ash if a dam failure were to occur. The maps are part of Alabama Power’s federally required Emergency Action Plan (EAP) prepared for Plant Barry in the event of a natural or manmade disaster.
Potential causes of a dam breach could include hurricanes, frequent flooding in the Delta after periods of heavy rain, and general limitations associated with earthen embankments such as the one at Plant Barry. “The worst-case scenario is a breach of the dam, and this map highlights a portion of the massive area that would be most immediately affected – their map does NOT include the downstream impacts we believe would also occur,” said Casi (kc) Callaway, Executive Director & Baykeeper of Mobile Baykeeper. “We’ve seen these incidents occur in other areas of the Southeast - like the Kingston, Tennessee coal ash catastrophe in 2008 and the Dan River spill in North Carolina in 2014. Imagine another BP Oil Disaster, but instead with millions of tons of coal ash spilling into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.”
While the map shows the immediate area that would be most directly affected by a disaster, Pete Harrison, staff attorney for Waterkeeper Alliance, emphasizes it is only for emergency planning purposes and the actual area affected would be much larger than shown on the map.
“When Duke Energy’s dam failed in 2014, the Dan River was coated with 70 miles of coal ash downstream from the plant,” he said. “The ash contains toxic metals like arsenic, lead, and mercury – all of which would end up in Mobile Bay if the dam failed at Plant Barry. That’s what people need to realize.”
Callaway also emphasizes that an accident at Plant Barry would have far more than just environmental implications. “A potential disaster at Plant Barry would not only be devastating to our environment, but also to our economy and our way of life,” said Callaway. “We depend on clean water as a source of recreation for swimming, fishing, hunting, and boating, but we also depend on it for the health of many important industries like seafood, tourism, and real estate. The dangers highlighted in this map show exactly why Alabama Power needs to do the right thing and remove the coal ash to a lined landfill away from our rivers rather than leaving it to threaten the Delta and Bay for years to come.”