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In: Chicago, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Collaboration, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, History and Culture, Illinois, indigenous communities, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, News, Region, the energy news network, Tribal Voices
More from “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash”

In August, the “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” student reporting initiative investigated the complicated policy and impacts of coal ash in the Great Lakes. The special collaboration included Great Lakes Now, The Energy News Network, and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

Keep up with more coal ash news published by The Energy News Network as part of this project:

How Puerto Rico’s banned coal ash winds up in rural Georgia

After Puerto Rico banned coal ash storage, the toxic waste from its coal plant is being quietly shipped through Florida to Georgia.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/more-from-poisonous-ponds-tackling-toxic-coal-ash/

Energy News Network

On:
In: Chicago, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Illinois, News, Research, Data and Technology, science, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Coal ash 101: Everything you need to know about this toxic waste

As coal plants close nationwide, they leave behind nearly a billion tons of toxic coal ash. The Medill School of Journalism spent months investigating the coal ash threat and how regulators, companies and environmental groups are handling it.

Here are the basics that will help you understand this looming threat:

What is Coal Ash?

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/coal-ash-101/

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan

On:
In: coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Environmental Justice, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, Groundwater Contamination, industry, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Michigan, News, Pennsylvania, Research, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Wisconsin
Reuse can divert coal ash from landfills, but challenges remain

The amount of coal ash in the United States is hard to fathom. There are over 700 impoundments holding more than 2 billion cubic yards of ash — enough to cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one-half inch deep. 

Coal ash includes heavy metals like chromium, arsenic and selenium — linked to higher rates of cancer and other diseases — that can leach into groundwater. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/reuse-divert-coal-ash-from-landfills-challenges-remain/

Tom Quinn

On:
In: coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Detroit, Drinking Water, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, great lakes now, Interview, Latest News, Michigan, News, wdet
On the Airwaves: Great Lakes Now’s Anna Sysling talks “Poisonous Ponds”

As the Great Lakes Now-Northwestern University journalism project “Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” continues to publish, Great Lakes Now producer Anna Sysling made a return to public radio to share more about the issue with Detroit audiences.

Sysling, who left WDET, Detroit’s NPR station last year to join Great Lakes Now full-time, spoke with Morning Edition Host Pat Batcheller about the project.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/great-lakes-now-anna-sysling-talks-poisonous-ponds/

GLN Editor

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In: Advocacy, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Energy, Clean Energy, Ethanol and Fracking, Environmental Justice, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, Groundwater Contamination, Indiana, industry, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, News, Ohio, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
To excavate or not to excavate: With toxic coal ash, that is the question

Eighty-eight-year-old Hilda Barg hunched her shoulders and rested her forearms on her hardwood dining table, talking fiercely about coal ash contamination in her neighborhood. Barg, a lifelong resident and former supervisor of Prince William County, Virginia, is leading a local fight against how Dominion Energy — the state’s largest electric utility — is dealing with toxic coal ash at its Possum Point plant 3 miles from Barg’s home. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/excavate-toxic-coal-ash-question/

Hayley Starshak and Mrinali Dhembla

On:
In: coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Drinking Water, Equity and Environmental Justice, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Interview, Latest News, Michigan, News, One Detroit, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
“Poisonous Ponds: Tackling Toxic Coal Ash” featured on One Detroit program

A special segment for Detroit Public Television’s public affairs program, “One Detroit,” features Great Lakes Now’s collaborative reporting project about coal ash.

A toxic substance, coal ash is what’s left over after burning coal. While the use of coal is declining across the Great Lakes region, the ash that remains from decades of producing energy with it is a problem.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/poisonous-ponds-featured-on-one-detroit-program/

GLN Editor

On:
In: activism, Advocacy, Chicago, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, Drinking Water, Environmental Justice, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, Groundwater Contamination, Illinois, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Michigan, Municipalities, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Coal ash contaminating groundwater near Joliet to stay, despite residents’ and activists’ concerns

Joliet, Illinois, a city of about 150,000 people southwest of Chicago, has long depended on a deep sandstone aquifer for drinking water – an increasingly strained resource that city officials hope to supplement with a billion-dollar pipeline from Lake Michigan.

But while this highly publicized search for a new source of municipal water unfolds, some residents who rely on private well water face a different threat.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/coal-ash-contaminating-groundwater-near-joliet-to-stay/

Sarah Aie

On:
In: Chicago, Climate change, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, contamination, dams, Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, flooding, Groundwater Contamination, Illinois, Indiana, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Michigan, Latest News, News, Ohio, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, Wisconsin
Rising waters, sinking feeling: From the Great Lakes to the Ohio River, climate change puts coal ash impoundments at risk

Just upstream of Alabama’s Mobile Bay sits a vast region of wetlands known as the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the United States. As well as 21 million cubic yards of wet coal ash. 

The J.M. Barry Power Plant has been a flashpoint between environmental advocates and the state utility, Alabama Power, for years.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/climate-change-puts-coal-ash-impoundments-at-risk/

Joshua Irvine

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In: Agriculture, bitcoin, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, cryptocurrency, Environmental Justice, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, groundwater, Groundwater Contamination, industry, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Latest News, Mining, New York, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Recreation and Tourism, Science, Technology, Research, Tourism, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts, wells
In the Finger Lakes, a bitcoin mining plant billed as ‘green’ has a dirty coal ash problem

The village of Dresden is nestled amid charming vineyards and the placid blue waters of Seneca Lake, the largest of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes. 

Wineries, breweries, dairy farms, and state parks dot the lake’s shoreline, making it a picture-perfect vacation destination.

But for local residents, the three auburn-colored smokestacks of Greenidge Generation’s plant towering above the trees are an unnerving reminder that their natural resources are at risk.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/bitcoin-mining-plant-dirty-coal-ash-problem/

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan

On:
In: Chicago, Climate change, coal ash, Coal Ash Project, contamination, data, Drinking Water, Environmental Justice, epa, Equity and Environmental Justice, Feature Homepage, Groundwater Contamination, History and Culture, Illinois, Indiana, industry, Industry, Energy, Economic Development, Lake Michigan, Latest News, Michigan, News, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice, Research, Data and Technology, Science, Technology, Research, Water Quality and Restoration Efforts
Leaking landfills: Unregulated coal ash poses a buried, brewing threat to Lake Michigan and beyond, new lawsuit says

At almost 300 sites on the Great Lakes and coast to coast, unregulated buried and landfilled coal ash is putting water supplies at risk, alleges a federal lawsuit filed August 25. 

This threat is in addition to contamination from up to 700 coal ash repositories that are covered by 2015 federal coal ash rules.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/unregulated-coal-ash-poses-brewing-threat-to-lake-michigan/

Diana Leane and Sarah Aie