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News Articles: coal ash

Georgia Power's Plant Scherer, right, and its Ash Pond 1, upper left, in September of 2023.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

EPA rollbacks could change rules at GA coal plants. Could they affect your health?

The Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back dozens of rules, programs and grants — a handful of which will alter regulations for Georgia’s coal-fired power plants.

March 19, 2025
|
By:
  • Margaret Walker
A hundred or so people in church pews in various stages of engagement in a public conversation.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Decades-long dispute over whether coal ash made Monroe County residents ill is settled out of court

Long-running lawsuits brought against Georgia Power by residents of the Monroe County town of Juliette have been resolved "to the satisfaction of both parties."

December 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Power Plant

Tagged as: 

  • News

Environmentalists press EPA to force Georgia Power to follow federal rules for coal ash cleanup

Several Georgia environmental organizations are pressing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  to enforce national standards that would prevent Georgia Power from disposing of coal ash waste in a way that pollutes groundwater.

July 19, 2024
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
Georcia Power's coal-fired Plant Scherer in Juliette, Ga. AP Photo/Branden Camp

Tagged as: 

  • News

What is a liquid? Utilities sue to avoid coal ash cleanup — and lose

With the definition resolved, will the EPA come for polluting coal plants? Across America, millions of tons of toxic waste are sitting in pits next to coal plants. But whether they will get cleaned up has come down to a legal debate over the definitions of words. 

July 11, 2024
|
By:
  • Gautama Mehta
Unlined coal ash landfills at Georgia Power's Plant Arkwright being consolidated into a single lined landfill on the bank of the Ocmulgee River in September of 2023. In addition to the liner, the new impoundment will collect any coal ash leachate for 30 years.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

What’s legal for closing Georgia’s coal ash ponds might hinge on one word: Infiltration

Some say that topdown solutions for Georgia’s coal ash ponds ignore depths of community health woes and the reality of how water flows.

April 11, 2024
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
arkwright

Tagged as: 

  • News

EPA tells Georgia it is not following the law on toxic waste from generating electricity

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has begun asserting its authority over Georgia plans for the long term storage of the toxic material left over from burning coal to make electricity, so called coal ash.

February 22, 2024
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
coal ash pond

Tagged as: 

  • News

Environmental groups call for federal action after regulators OK Georgia Power coal ash permit

Environmental advocates are calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to act after state regulators issued a final permit signing off on Georgia Power’s plans to leave coal ash partly submerged in groundwater at Floyd County’s Plant Hammond.  

November 21, 2023
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
The closed coal ash pond at Plant McDonough in Cobb County in September. The work was done before a final permit for coal ash pond closure was issued by Georgia EPD.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Georgia environmentalists ask for a stronger EPA hand in coal ash regulation

Georgia environmental advocates told the Environmental Protection Agency during a public hearing Wednesday their state’s coal ash management permitting program deserved the same scrutiny as that of neighboring Alabama. during a public hearing on the EPA’s proposed rejection of Alabama program. 

September 28, 2023
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship

Tagged as: 

  • News

Feds rejected Alabama’s toxic waste disposal plan. What that means for Georgia’s coal ash

Georgia Power’s plans for disposing of toxic industrial waste at a handful of coal plants across the state have been the subject of a yearslong controversy.

August 25, 2023
|
By:
  • Gautama Mehta
Jeff Cown, the incoming director of the state Environmental Protection Division, poses for photos Wednesday after being confirmed by the Board of Natural Resources during a special called meeting.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Georgia environmental agency names staffer to lead efforts to regulate coal ash, Okefenokee mining

The governor has tapped a longtime state regulator to lead Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division.

August 04, 2023
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
Power Plant

Tagged as: 

  • News

Federal crackdown on coal ash waste in the works as Southern Co. resists tougher environmental regs

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials are seeking public input on a proposal to close a regulatory loophole that conservationists claim utilities are exploiting to avoid cleaning up toxic coal ash from retired power plants.

 

June 20, 2023
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap

Tagged as: 

  • News

Years past deadline, Georgia will submit plan to close loophole in pollution regulations

Under pressure from the federal government, Georgia is rewriting a rule governing industrial air pollution limits to end a loophole that currently exposes communities near coal plants and other facilities to harmful pollutants.

May 03, 2023
|
By:
  • Gautama Mehta
Georgia Power's Plant Scherer with the coal ash pond where residuals from burning coal at the plant are stored. The pond goes to depths of 80 feet in some places and comes into contact with groundwater.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

A new coal ash bill would align Georgia with federal rules

A Georgia House bill would align state law with the current federal rule around the storage of the toxic material left over from burning coal to make electricity, also known as coal ash. 

March 01, 2023
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Georgia Power's Plant Scherer with the coal ash pond where residuals from burning coal at the plant are stored. The pond goes to depths of 80 feet in some places and comes into contact with groundwater.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Federal action on coal ash in Ohio has big implications in Georgia

A recent order by the EPA telling an Ohio power plant it could no longer dispose of toxic coal ash in an unlined pond, thereby polluting groundwater, could have important implications for four Georgia Power sites.

December 02, 2022
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
People protesting Georgia Power rate hike

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

Georgia Power’s new bid to pass coal ash tab to customers gets tailwind with court decisions

The state Public Service Commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on Georgia Power’s 20-year plan for the company’s transition to cleaner forms of energy from its aging coal-fired power plants. 

July 19, 2022
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
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