New Coal Ash Summary

New Coal Ash Summary and Ways to Take Action

To read Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s new Coal Ash Summary, click here.

This month, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management started hosting public hearings focused on Alabama Power’s closure plans for coal ash waste storage in massive unlined, leaking pits next to the river. This closure is required by federal law because their coal ash pit is situated too close to groundwater, which is being polluted with toxic heavy metals. Alabama Power plans to leave their toxic coal ash next to the river and cap it in place.

Plant Miller’s hearing was October 20. Plant Greene County’s hearing is October 22. The hearing on Plant Gorgas has yet to be announced. Whether or not you feel comfortable attending public hearings during the pandemic, you can submit written comments on the need for Alabama Power to excavate and remove their waste from next to the river.

To submit comments regarding each power plant, click on the each power plant’s name listed here: alabamacoalash.org/show-up-1.

To learn more about the Miller, Gorgas, and Greene County Plants, and coal ash in the Black Warrior River basin, click here: blackwarriorriver.org/coal-ash-and-power-plants/.

To learn more about coal ash throughout Alabama, sign up for updates, and take action, click here: alabamacoalash.org/.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper recently collaborated with Alabama Rivers Alliance and Southern Environmental Law Center to send public comments to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, alerting the Department to the many reasons that allowing Alabama Power to leave its toxic coal ash in wetlands and streams along the banks of our rivers is a bad idea. To our comment letter regarding Plant Miller, click here. For our comment letter regarding Plant Greene County, click here. Stay tuned for our comment letter regarding Plant Gorgas.