Some owners of old, toxic coal ash waste likely not reporting it — which could violate federal law

The Biden administration put out rules last year to help control toxic coal ash in old, unused ponds that hadn't had federal oversight before. An analysis by the group Earthjustice shows some utilities and landowners might not be following the law.

Coal ash is the waste leftover from burning coal — which can contain toxic heavy metals like mercury, cadmium and arsenic.

Under the Biden-era rules, owners of these "legacy" coal ash ponds have to to let the Environmental Protection Agency know if ash was still being stored on the site and post inspection reports on publicly available websites. The rules aimed to make sure coal ash is not getting into groundwater or polluting lakes and streams nearby.

Earthjustice Senior Attorney Lisa Evans said, so far, many of the reports show possible contamination.

"But then there are dozens of utilities that were on the list that EPA created for having legacy ponds, potentially, and we have seen nothing from those utilities," she said.

READ MORE: Indiana groups sue EPA over coal ash landfills no longer being used
 

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That includes the old Tanners Creek coal plant in Lawrenceburg — a site so contaminated with coal ash that it was passed up as an option for Indiana's fourth port. As of last year, there were no new plans to develop the site.

The coal ash waste at Tanners Creek also sits close to public drinking water wells for Lawrenceburg and Aurora.

Tanners Creek Development, LLC took over the Tanners Creek site in 2016. Its parent company, Commercial Development Company (CDC), declined to comment.

According to IDEM, Tanners Creek Development, LLC has submitted coal ash closure reports to the state, but the company doesn't have a publicly available website for its legacy ponds.

In March, the Trump administration said it would review the Biden-era rules for legacy coal ash ponds. The EPA hasn't drafted new proposed rules yet.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or on Signal at IPBenvironment.01. Follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.