Lake Michigan is Coal Ash Disposal Site

In December 2008, a coal ash containment pond in Tennessee ruptured, flooding the local community with a billion gallons of toxic sludge, destroying homes and fouling 300 acres of river and residential property. Remember? 

Three years later, benefactors of the coal industry have introduced legislation that will undermine the EPA’s ability to set federally enforceable standards for coal ash disposal.

Last week, a coal ash disposal site above Lake Michigan collapsed. This sent 2,500 tons of toxic material into the source of drinking water for 40 million people. 

Coal-fired power plants across the country generate 140 million tons of toxic ash every year—but Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have failed to protect our health by regulating its disposal.

Coal ash is toxic. Living near unlined coal ash ponds puts communities at a 1 in 50 risk of developing cancer—that’s 2,000 times greater than average. Yet the disposal of your household trash is more closely regulated than the disposal of coal ash.

So next time you see the clean coal advertisement on TV, just remember that it could be your drinking water next time.  Though, I guess it does not matter to anyone but us, because the government does not seem to care about the water or the cancer.