Coal ash is damaging water, health in 34 states, groups say

[ensho]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/67753.html


People in 34 states who live near 210 coal ash lagoons or landfills with inadequate lining have a higher risk of cancer and other diseases from contaminants in their drinking water, two environmental groups reported on Thursday.

Twenty-one states have five or more of the high-risk disposal sites near coal-fired power plants. The groups -- the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice -- said that a 2002 Environmental Protection Agency document that the agency didn't release until March of this year adds information about toxic releases from these facilities to nearby water systems and data on how some contaminants accumulate in fish and deer and can harm the health of people who hunt and fish.


The report said that people who live near the most problematic disposal sites have as much as a 1-in-50 chance of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated by arsenic. The highest risk is for people who live near ash ponds with no liners and who get their water from wells.

The report said the ash ponds also produced an increased risk of damage to the liver and other organs from exposure to such metals as cadmium, cobalt and lead, and other pollutants.

-long snip-

Based on information from most of the nation's utilities, the EPA estimates there are 427 coal ash ponds, the environmental groups said.

A previous EPA estimate showed 300 ponds.
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coal ash ponds - bad for health

pig shit ponds - bad for health

nuke waste sites - bad for health

uranium tailings - bad for health

man made hormones in all the 'ponds' - bad for health

on and on and on

are we stupid or what?

[Uncle Joe]

1. Our impact on the Earth becomes exponentially magnified

as our population balloons and technology advances; there is less margin for error.

[sixmile]

2. Paging Erin Brockovich

You're needed everywhere!