SoutheastCoalAsh.org Launches Create-Your-Own Coal Ash Report Interactive Feature
Contact: Ulla Reeves, 828-713-7486, [email protected]
Asheville, N.C. – Today www.SoutheastCoalAsh.org and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) unveiled a new tool to help concerned citizens, activists, policymakers, and reporters better understand the potential hazards of toxic coal ash waste throughout our region.
The Create-Your-Own Coal Ash Report feature on our interactive website, www.SoutheastCoalAsh.org, analyzes detailed data from more than 450 coal ash storage ponds (impoundments) across the region to generate custom reports based on the coal plants, states, and/or utilities that users select. You can visit the report portal page to generate a custom report at http://www.CoalAshReport.org.
Our 9-state region is extremely vulnerable to pollution and catastrophic dam failures from coal ash impoundments because it is home to 40% of the nation’s coal ash impoundments. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates a disproportionate number of those as posing serious threats to nearby communities and infrastructure. The report tool comes as EPA faces a court-ordered December 19 deadline to finalize rules for coal ash, which is currently less regulated than household garbage despite its toxic load of lead, arsenic, and hexavalent chromium.
“We are still waiting on federal rules to address this completely unregulated waste stream which continues to pose serious threats to our communities and waterways,” says Ulla Reeves, High Risk Energy Program Director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “Increasing public understanding, awareness, and access to information about coal ash issues in our backyards is one of the ways we will eventually clean up these dangerous dumpsites and prevent the next devastating coal ash spill.”
These custom reports offer another way for the public to learn more and share information about dangerous coal ash impoundments that threaten water quality and our health. This information was made publicly available for the first time on the www.SoutheastCoalAsh.org website in December 2012, and both the website and this new report-generating tool are regularly updated with the latest impoundment-specific coal ash data.
# # #
Founded in 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at www.cleanenergy.org