Say no to toxic coal ash in our water
After living through everything from catastrophic coal ash spills to contaminated groundwater, SELC and communities across the South spent years fighting for safeguards that protect our families from
toxic coal ash.
Yet the Trump administration just moved to gut a federal rule that protects us from this toxic pollution — giving polluters what they asked for and putting our drinking water sources at serious risk.
We need your voice now to stop this dangerous reversal.
Tell EPA and Congress to say NO to toxic coal ash in our water.
Our communities need clean water that is not contaminated with arsenic, mercury, lead, and other harmful toxins from coal ash. Exposure to these toxins is known to cause cancer, developmental issues in children, and other serious illnesses.
But the risks don’t stop there. Current standards also prevent catastrophic coal ash spills that can devastate communities.
More than 10 years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency put these standards in place after communities across the South fought for them. People here know firsthand the dangers of storing coal ash sitting in ground water in leaking, unlined pits next to our rivers and lakes:
- In 2014, Duke Energy spilled coal ash and millions of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Dan River, contaminating waterways in North Carolina and Virginia.
- In 2008, TVA spilled over a billion gallons of ash slurry into people’s homes and the Emory River in Kingston, Tennessee.
Politically powerful coal ash polluters asked the Trump administration to weaken these safeguards. Now the administration is quietly trying to eliminate these protections, putting families at risk.
The Trump administration’s proposal would allow states and EPA to grant site-specific exceptions that let utilities avoid the common-sense nationwide minimum standards required to protect our rivers, lakes, and drinking water.
Tell EPA not to eliminate these necessary, basic protections against coal ash pollution and tell your Congressional representatives to stand up for their communities against coal ash polluters and against this proposal.