Wed., December 14, 2011 7:43am (EST)

Group IDs More Coal Ash Pollution Sites
By Associated Press
Updated: 1 year ago

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.  —  
One site in Georgia – Plant Yates in Newnan – is among those listed in a new report as having contamination levels above Safe Drinking Water Act limits. (Photo Courtesy of Nick Humphries via Flickr.)
One site in Georgia – Plant Yates in Newnan – is among those listed in a new report as having contamination levels above Safe Drinking Water Act limits. (Photo Courtesy of Nick Humphries via Flickr.)
Pollution from coal ash is more widespread than previously known, according to an environmental group that criticized President Barack Obama's failure to regulate the byproduct of power generation and castigated members of Congress who are trying to end the enforcement altogether.

An Environmental Integrity Project report added 20 sites to the group's list of almost 140 in the nation where its tests show that coal ash appears to have contaminated groundwater or soil to unsafe levels.

One site in Georgia – Plant Yates in Newnan – is among those listed with contamination levels above Safe Drinking Water Act limits.

The report, compiled from states through freedom of information requests, also adds seven sites in Illinois, three in South Carolina, two each in Iowa and Texas and one each in Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida and Nevada where coal combustion waste appears to have caused contamination at levels above primary Safe Drinking Water Act maximum limits for pollutants like arsenic.