Power utilities in Alabama and across the country are facing tough decisions on how to store all the ash their coal-fired power plants generate.
Last week was the deadline for utilities to post public plans for complying with new environmental regulations. That means closing the large unlined ponds that have traditionally been used to store the toxic ash. Both the TVA and Alabama Power plan to use a method called “cap-in-place”, where they’ll drain wastewater from the ponds and then cover up the more than 90 million tons of ash.
Cindy Lowry is the Executive Director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance. She doubts the cap-in-place method will keep Alabama’s waterways safe from contamination.
“There are cases where there are actual running streams that flow into these ponds, or underneath them. There are cases where they are in wetland areas, where they are just sitting in water, or in the water table. So this is not, in our opinion, going to be possible to get all the water out and adequately protect our waterways.”
Lowry says a much safer option would be to excavate the ash from the ponds and store it in lined facilities.