Sierra Club – Dumping Toxic Waste: “Every year, the nation’s coal plants produce 140 million tons of coal ash pollution, the toxic by-product that is left over after the coal is burned. All that ash has to go somewhere, so it’s dumped in the backyards of power plants across the nation—into open-air pits and precarious surface-waste ponds. Many of these sites lack adequate safeguards, leaving nearby communities at risk from potential large-scale disasters like the massive coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008, and from gradual yet equally dangerous contamination as coal ash toxins seep into drinking water sources or are blown into nearby communities. Coal ash pollution contains high levels of toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, selenium, and other cancer-causing agents. The public health hazards and environmental threats to nearby communities from unsafe coal ash dumping have been known for many years, including increased risk of cancer, learning disabilities, neurological disorders, birth defects, reproductive failure, asthma, and other illnesses. Coal ash is not subject to federal protections, and state laws governing coal combustion waste disposal are usually weak or nonexistent. The result: Millions of tons of coal ash are being stored in ponds, landfills, and abandoned mines. Many of these sites lack adequate safeguards, leaving nearby communities at risk from potential large scale disasters like the December 22, 2008, TVA disaster in Tennessee in which a dike holding back decades’ worth of coal ash failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant, flooding the surrounding residential area with more than one billion gallons of toxic coal ash—enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep…”